


The Blurs of a Memory

by AEM888



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adventure, Aliens, Allura - Freeform, Angst, Coran - Freeform, Drama, Exploration, F/M, Maybe sexy times, Paladins, Pidge - Freeform, Romance, Shiro - Freeform, Slow Burn, Voltron, galra - Freeform, hair pulling fustration with every character ever, hunk - Freeform, keith - Freeform, klance, lance - Freeform, voltron legendary defender - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2018-12-07 22:39:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11633409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AEM888/pseuds/AEM888
Summary: Takashi "Shiro" Shirogane.  The presumed failure of the Kereberous mission.  However, unknown to the planet Earth, Shiro, and his crew members Matthew and Samuel Holt are all taken and kidnapped by the alien species, the Galra.  A year of battles and gladiator matches leave scars, along with the loss of his right arm.  Finally, that year ends and he finds his way back to earth.Rescued by 4 unlikely cadets from the Space Garrison, they escaped with Shiro and go looking for the only thing linking him to the last year. Voltron. Searching, they find a giant blue lion, an alien ship that is piloted by one of the cadets, and soon they find themselves in space, with Princess Alura and Coran, the last of the Altean race that was suppose to be extinguished 10,000 years ago.Now, in the battle against Zarkon, Shiro goes to uncover more and more of his life and his escape, including how he escaped and who helped him.  However, when running into a planet, long out of range of normal travel, he and the other Paladins meet a princess who strikes something inside of Shiro.  Is she a friend, or she is a threat to the paladins; as the equipment attached and embedded into her arm, is none other than Galra technology.





	1. The Hidden World

**Author's Note:**

> This is an OC x Shiro story with a slow burn, but much to come with mysteries and turns. Who is this new character of mine, and how does she know Shiro, if at all? Stay tuned every Wednesday (Or so) for a weekly update on the adventure in the vast of space.

“Allura, now would be a great time to get out of here!” Pidge who sat in her designated chair in the main bay, along with the other paladins with Coran and Allura in their normal space, had shouted out as she worked her technical mind. They had come under fire out of nowhere, and they needed a quick escape. They were fighting off what they could with their drones, hoping Allura would open a wormhole more sooner than later. 

“I’m trying, the castle isn’t responding!” Her accented voice shouted back as Lance’s high voice shouted back in favor of Pidge’s wanting to go into safety. 

“Well then make it work!” Allura clenched her teeth. It was harder to move and work this castle on a normal basis as is, but when under fire and stress, the difficulty is raised ten-fold. “Everybody hold on!” She waved her arm hastily across her control panel and everything was gone in an instant. 

“What are you doing?! We need to get away from the bad guys, not put everything away!” Hunk was his usual panicked mess as he worked and surveyed his own set of information. The castle was starting to pick up speed, heading towards a large, rock planet. 

“I’m going to use the gravity of this planet to gain speed and we can then perform a wormhole jump. Get ready!” The team all held onto their seat, Coran working hard on keeping their systems going and soon, Allura took her strength and opened a wormhole, successfully jumping through it. Now, safely on the other side of the jump, and several galaxies away, the Paladins and pair of Alteans found themselves in the middle of a comet field. 

“Princess, our scanners show a planet not a quintant away. We can be there in 10 vargas if we continue to travel at this speed.” The gingered altean pulled at his mustache as he spoke to the princess. 

“How is the planet’s citizens?” 

“According to my readings, it’s fairly peaceful.” Lance blew his lips as he slouched in his chair, rolling his eyes. 

“Yeah, last time you said that, me and Hunk nearly got blasted out of the sky and killed by the Galra.” As the cuban slouched, he moved his arms around in a lazy manner, still trying to emphasize his point. Hunk shuddered at the memory of when they first met the princess and Coran. 

“Yeah, I’m with Lance on this one. How can we be sure that they aren’t gonna shoot at us and ask questions later, because if they do, we won’t be here to answer the questions.” Hunk’s spiel was cut off when Pidge stood from her chair and stretched. 

“You just got a bit of bad luck, when Shiro and I went to look for the green lion, we had no problem at all. The, uh, animals there were actually really helpful.” Lance sat up in his chair quickly as he looked at Pidge. 

“What? You said you guys had just as much trouble as we did!” 

“Well, I lied.” Pidge smirked at her blunt reply as she watched Lance through a temper tantrum. Shiro sighed with a small smile on his face as he stood from his chair that was placed between the center of the bridge, where Allura stood to operate the castle, and Coran’s operational desk in front of him. 

“Well, it looks like we don’t have a choice. The ship took some damage from that attack, so landing and checking them out is our best bet.” He stood and turned to look at his crew. 

“Shiro’s right. Zarkon’s been finding us everywhere we go, he’s got eyes on the entire galaxy. There’s Galra ships and bases everywhere. It’s better to take the chance and land than go into another battle injured.” Keith stood from his chair as well as he agreed with Shiro. Lance slouched back in his own as he huffed. 

“Whatever, Mullet.” Keith went to retaliate back, but was quickly shut up from a dangerous glare from Shiro, silently telling him ‘to get along’. Keith only groaned as he turned. 

“If we are out of the woods, I’m going to the training deck.” With that, Keith left the bridge, to go exhausted himself, probably fighting with the android again. 

“Yeah, I want to run through and try learning some Altean. I’m tired of not knowing what anything means.” 

“I’m going to go see what I can’t find in the kitchen, I’m starving.” 

“Wellllll, in that case, I think I’ll go get some beauty sleep. It’s not easy keeping this face gorgeous.” In order of appearance, Pidge, Hunk and Lance all announced they’d all be going off to do whatever it was they wanted as well, and soon followed after Keith and left. Soon, only Shiro, Coran and Allura were left. 

“You should go and rest too Shiro, we’ll alert you all once we’ve hit the atmosphere of the planet.” Allura smiled as she spoke, happy that the Paladin’s were still able to enjoy themselves to some extent in the middle of a war. 

“You’re right, nothing can come out of all of us being exhausted. I’ll go take it easy for a while.” Shiro walked by Allura, placing his hand on her shoulder. “You get some rest too Princess.” With that Shiro, and all the paladin’s were off doing their thing. 

“I’ll set a course and stabilize the ship so when we hit the atmosphere, the hull can take the brunt of it.” Coran enthusiastically spoke. “In the meantime, you need your rest.” He looked at his princess, and as it to support him and Shiro, the four mice found their way to her shoulder, squeaking at her as she smiled. 

“Yes, I suppose I could do with some rest for a while. Call me if you need anything or if anything comes up.” She spoke to the other Altean as he agreed easily and watched her leave. Now, for once, everyone was taking a well deserved break. 

Nearly 8 hours had passed since their set course for the unknown planet. Most of the paladins were in their rooms, resting by now, or hanging around the lounge, but their rest was disturbed when Coran came over the PA system of the castle and his loud, accented voice drilled into everyone’s ears. 

“Wakey wakey Paladins! We’ve just hit the planets outmost sphere, and they’ve definitely taken us into their sight. It’ll be helpful if you all got up to the main control area in case things take a turn for the worse.” With that, within minutes the paladins of all 5 colors were racing into the bridge, taking a seat at their assigned chairs and Allura following right after them. 

It only took a moment of all of them sitting and preparing, that someone had tried contacting them via vocal calls to the castleship. Allura accepted and patched through the call. 

“State your name and intentions. We have spotted your ship, tell us now if you are planning an attack. State so, and you may not be allowed to land, nor will your ship last.” the voice was of, what sounded to be, a young man. 

“We do not mean you, or your people any harm. I am Princess Allura of Altea. Myself and my friends came across your planet on our escape route of a battle and we only wish to land so that we may tend to damages dealt to our ship.” Allura answered back to him, Altean’s always believed in friendship before violence. 

“You were escaping a battle? Were you followed then?” Allura shook her head, even if the man could not see her. 

“No. We were able to get several galaxies away from our foes before stumbling across your planet.” There was silence for a moment, before the man spoke once more. 

“I will send a crew of directional pilots to guide you, you have my permission to land. Follow their directions and leadership to land safely. You will need to send a representative of your crew to meet with us, to prove and speak about your repair intentions.” Allura smiled as the crew sighed in relief, now knowing they weren’t entering another fight to get away from a fight. 

“Of course. I’ll send my Paladins to meet with you. We appreciate your aide.” With that the connection was dropped and the landing process began. As the man had stated, three, small landing drone ships approached the Castle of Lions and directed them on where to go and how to do so. 

It took quite a while, but soon, the castleship was on the ground and ready for repairs. The controls of the paladins and Allura were all shut down as everyone rose from their chairs and faced Allura for further orders.


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright. As promised, I want you 5 paladins to go and meet with the people of this planet. Explain how we need only repairs, and that I will meet with them when they are ready."

"Right. Let's go team, we have marching orders." Shiro started and lead the pack as he left first, the 4 other colors of red, blue, green, and yellow tailing behind him, in that order I might add.

The team of 5 exited the ship and found themselves entering into a whole other castle. This one wasn't like the Castle of Lions, and it looked like it was meant to stay on the ground. It was a stone like foundation that wasn't like any crystal back on earth, but that was no surprise. The stone shone a lavender, but it also changed from that lavender to different shades of violet, indigo and cerulean as one would move and as light hit it.

"Wooooah, what kind of stone is this? I wonder if they'd let me do a scan on it." Pidge pranced up to the outer walls of the castle as she examined the gem carved castle. While the main foundation was clearly this, mystery crystal, the tops, edges, windows and doors were all lines with a type of dull stone that complemented the shine of the walls well. It was a stone that was a dull silver, not shining but still not dark enough to be considered gray.

Looking around the, presumed, courtyards to the entrance, it was a field of grass and stones of all sizes. Walking inside the castle doorways, they stepped into a large, closed corridor, tall and empty. The castle was rather large, so it wasn't a surprise that no one was seen in this particular corridor, but it was far too quiet for anyone's liking.

The inside of the walls were lined with a type of metallic substance that didn't shine or reflect while bright, yellow lights hung along the edges that connected the ceiling and walls. Along with the lights, many, tall and narrow windows were placed high towards the ceiling, letting the light from their solar systems star shining through.

Beneath their feet was a tiled floor with a white glassy base and a red rug running over the center of it. All in all, it was like a castle only an author could think of to put into a classic adventure fantasy story back on earth. It made them feel almost nostalgic, even if it looked nothing like earth at all.

"This place is really different from the Castle of Lions." Hunk murmured as they continued walked and tilting their heads to look around them.

"I'm more focused on why it's so quiet. Shouldn't there be more people around. We didn't just land our foreign castle on their planet, we should at least see a few people running around." Keith, being the skeptic he is, spoke the obvious.

"Where is everyone?" Shiro spoke next, but was only met with silence and their own footsteps echoing in against the walls.

The paladins continued to wander around area of the apparent castle, hoping to find someone to tell them exactly where they wear, preferably the man who granted them access to land. They continued down the halls that seemed to lack much art at all, all while the place was brightly lit from light from both outside and in.

Lance, now becoming bored, began to lazily walk with his arms swaying at his sides with each step. He yawned as he thought he had heard something behind him, as he peeked, drowsy eyed behind him. He saw only a pair of golden eyes before a figure formed around them and began to rush the group.

The blue paladin blinked a few times before screaming like a middle school girl and running to get out of the way. The other's took into account his shriek and quickly jumped out of the way except Shiro who had already activated his Galra tech infused prosthetic arm and blocked off an attack from the mysterious person.

They had come at the group with a long, thin rod that seemed to spark along the length of the entire rod. The person wore a mask that covered most of their face, gloves that kept the sparks of their weapon from damaging them and a hood that covered their face and head, but from the size of the body as well as its physique gave away that they were a female. She seemed to stiffen as the sight of the leader, but she soon reverted to her oppressive ways.

"Hey-" Shiro began to question her, effort exerted in his voice as she still pushed against him and he to her.

"State your name and your reasons for being here." Shiro was confused as he pushed against her and finally pushed her off and away from him, only for her to come back at him from a swing from below. She brought the rod up as he narrowly missed it and she rushed him and he quickly gripped her arms and tossed her over his shoulder, she in turned rolled as she hit the ground and looked up to him, ready with his arm activated.

"Is that Galra tech?" Her eyes narrowed as she seethed at the black paladin about his arm. He stiffened and she rushed after him again, not waiting for an answer. They kept parrying blows before Pidge from the side lines finally mentioned that maybe someone should help them. They all kind of shook from their shock of the random attacker and moved to help defend their leader. 

They eventually formed a line between the two, one that the girl, no matter how small she was, had no way to push through without doing some pretty serious damage to the entire party.

"I'll ask again. What are you doing in my courts and who are you?" Keith blinked and questioned her words.

"Your courts?" Both parties were interrupted from clapping that sounded behind the girl warrior. She turned around as a figure soon showed himself with a smirk on his face, one that held back a fit of laughter. The girl seemed to completely forget the whole paladin group as the man approached her and stopped beside her as he placed his hands on his hips.

"No worries, I allowed them access here Madam." the girl grimaced as she reached up and slammed her fist into the back of his head. He crouched to the ground as he cradled his head, the girl now dusting off her hands as she looked back at the group. The rod she had, now small and attached at her side, the sparks now gone and the electric rod, just a rod.

"Well then," She moved her gaze back to the boy on the floor, "you can take care of them. I'm busy, and with that unsupervised landing I'm now behind on schedule. We'll discuss this later." The boy looked up to her and grinned as she looked once more at the group of suited space defenders before whipping around and walking off, her presence disappearing into the shadows of the halls.

"I feel like we're missing something here?" Hunk spoke up, breaking the silence as he raised a finger in the air, clearly confused. The boy on the ground, stood up and dusted himself off. Her walked over to a control panel on the wall as he messed around with it, soon the lights in the halls itself brightened, making it less threatening and dreary.

"Alright, you all can get back to work. Thanks for your cooperation." Her spoke as soon workers and people of all kinds filled the halls along with their tasks and muffled words. The boy then turned back to the group, smiling playfully.

"Sorry about the lights and the whole 'you're alone in the halls' thing. I never thought Alice would catch on to you all so quickly thought, man what a rush!" His voice boomed into a laugh as the paladins were confused and looked him over. He would look like a human if not for a few distinctly NOT human features.

He was rather tall, taller than Shiro by what seemed a few inches at least. He was thin and his skin was pale as his hair was a bright blue, reflecting the sky on a perfect summer's day. It was rather long and shaggy, with a black piece of cloth around his head, like a bandanna, keeping the longer hair at the top of his head a bit more in check. His eyes were practically glowing a mix of red and hazel in his eyes, along with very similar tattoo underneath his eyes that seemed almost Altean. He wore long pants that hung loosely on his legs and were a brown color. His shirt was a white tank with a tan cardigan, complimenting his pants. It was almost too odd to see him, an alien that looked so human like.

"So, you're the one who let us land here?" Shiro spoke up from behind the line of his team as he made his way up front. The bluenette boy nodded chipperly. "Okay, so where is here? Who are you, and who was that woman who attacked us earlier?" The boy chuckled as he held out his hand to Shiro, ready for some introductions.


	3. Attacked...but By Who?

“The names Chlotz. I’m the personal assistant and aide to this planet’s princess. That girl you had a run in with before was Alice. Don’t hold it against her, she’s just a bit more cautious than most.” Shiro met his hand and shook it firmly as Chlotz dropped his hand and continued. “This planet is called Arcadia. It’s a chameleon planet, so I’m honestly surprised you were able to find us.”

“Chameleon planet? What’s that suppose to mean?” Chlotz looked towards the paladin in red as they held each other’s gaze. He smirked slightly and placed his hands on his hips.

“It means we’re a planet that can blend in with surroundings or can be missed altogether because we simply can’t capture the attention of most. Not even most tracking systems can find us here. It’s more a blessing than anything if you ask me, what with what I've heard over the past years.” Chlotz looked around then to the inside of his wrist before turning around and ushering the others to follow him. Along the way, the paladins had introduced themselves.

“So, the paladins of Voltron huh? I haven’t heard about them in years.”

“Wait, so you know about us?” Chlotz pushed open a door leading to another corridor.

“Well, not you specifically, but this castle has many books on the history of many planets and galaxies. Voltron’s shown up quite a bit in them.” It was rare of the paladins to have people familiar with what they do, and they would be lying if they said they hadn’t felt a bit proud. Soon the corridor ended and Chlotz pushed open a set of large doors to enter into a large room with a staircase by the back wall, a throne room feel to it as a large decorative chair sat at the top of the staircase platform.

“I’m here with guests!~” He called into the room as his voice echoed. He gained the attention of the woman standing by the chair who was reading over some papers from an older man, who both looked once again surprisingly human, the woman more than the man. She turned her gaze towards Chlotz and the group behind him.

“It’s about time you showed up. You’re late, not to mention you declined to inform me that we had guests arriving today at all, so because of you I have even more work than usual.” Chlotz chuckled and rubbed the back of his head and went to step forward to make his way to the stairs and climb up them, but something zoomed past him before he could make two full strides.

That blur, was Lance.

Lance zoomed his way across the room to the stair sand scaled them all to stop in front of the girl by the chair. He gently took her hand as she dropped her papers due to this and bent his body to bow to her as her smirked up to her. The girl was beautiful, without a doubt. Her crimson hair was pulled back into a braid as it rested over her shoulder. Her golden eyes searched Lance’s for a reason as to why he was doing this, and her skin was fair, paler than most. 

She wore a red lined, white tight fitted, uniform sleeveless top with the collar up and a black undershirt beneath it, along with a pair of black shorts. Her long, thigh high socks were covered with a pair of boots that reached her knees. Her left arm held a long sleeve that wrapped around, and hung from, her biceps to her wrist, while her right hand held a fingerless glove that stopped mid-forearm. Not to mention, her body figure was nothing to sneeze at.

“Hello my lady~ The name’s Lance, paladin of the blue--and best--lion of Voltron.” He winked up to her as she blinked a few times and then placed a smile on her face. Her eyes closed as she tilted her head a bit of the side and gripped his hand that held her’s. Lance looked down at their, now clutched together, hands and before he could process anything further, he felt something hit his stomach then proceeded to feel himself… flying?

The girl had gripped his hand and rapidly pulled him to his feet, then quickly released his hand to quickly take a step back and slam her foot into his stomach with enough force to send him back into the air and down the stairs. He rolled as he came to a stop a few feet away from Keith. The red paladin only sighed as he went to his team member and dragged him back to the group by his collar, still on the ground. Pidge all the while was suppressing her constant need to laugh at the major rejection. Chlotz opened his mouth next to address the woman.

“Now, now princess. Was it really necessary to kick him? Don’t you think that was rather excessive?” Alice glared down the blue haired boy, making him jump. She sighed as she picked up her papers from before and then gave them back to the older man, saying a few words to him as he bowed to her and descended the stairs and left the room completely.

The girl’s eyes began to glow a faint tint of electric blue as the doors sung shut and securely locked behind them; along with the windows tinting themselves just enough for the outside not to be able to gaze in; the equivalent of one-way glass. The paladins turned to look at the door and windows, then their attention went back to the gaze of the woman's whose eyes were now once again, gold. She crossed her arms as she slowly began to walk down the large staircase.

“We now have some privacy. Why not explain everything to me in detail. Who are you?” Shiro looked to Chlotz as he shrugged and smirked. Shiro rolled his eyes in a sarcastic ‘thanks’ and looked back to the girl who walked and now stood in front of him. She seemed, quite familiar somehow and how she looked at him, made him think he was missing something.

“We’re the paladins of Voltron, each piloting our own separate Lion. We only landed because of repairs needed to be done on our main ship. We only came to ask for help, we mean you no harm.” The woman raised her brow.

“I see. I assume your castleship is the Castle of Lions if the tales of Altea stand true. If memory servers, rumors of the Altean princess being alive have been floating around for some time, so then that would be your true commander?” Shiro nodded.

“You knew about Altea, and the Princess?” Pidge asked from behind Shiro. Sure they had fought with Zarkon, countless times, but with a planet so far off the radar, it’s strange to know someone else knew of them. The woman nodded as she looked to Chlotz.

“I did. Chlotz here was the one who informed me of her. When she first woke up, he was able to sense her life force, so in turn, he informed myself about it.” The paladins understood most of that, but how was he able to? Alice seemed to know the growing confusion as she continued further. “Chlotz has traces of Altean ancestry in his blood, so he connected with both the princess and her companion.”

The girl then looked to the boy in red, the bigger man in yellow and the small girl in green. She smirked at the blue clad boy on the ground then finally back to the one in front of her in black. She sighed a bit and held out a hand to Shiro.

“Getting back to the main topic at hand, I am known as Alice, I watch over the castle and better part of this planet. I apologize for my rudeness earlier in the corridor, as I was not informed of your unscheduled landing.” Alice glared slightly over to Chlotz who rubbed his neck sheepishly once again and Shiro grasped her hand and had that same feeling of of deja vu from earlier. Like something was staring him in the face, something he knew.

“It’s not a problem, it’s not unusual to be cautious of trespassing species, especially in these times with the Galra.” Alice smirked as Hunk spoke from behind Shiro.

“Wait, so she’s the one who got all “I’ll beat you up” with us earlier?” The two leader’s hands dropped from each other and Alice’s hand went to her back to pull out the same rod from earlier. Pressing a small button on it, it extended and seemed to have some language engraved on it in scarlet as it sparked. She smiled innocently to Hunk.

“Yes. That was me.” Hunk meekly bit his lip.

“Right, don’t piss off alien princesses. Point taken.” She chuckled at him as she collapsed the rod again and replaced it on her lower back. She then placed her arms back across her chest as she looked towards Chlotz.

“If they need assistance with repairs, we will offer them what we can. Our technology is advanced enough to meet with the Alteans form of older technology. I’ll go on board to meet with the princess myself, it’s only right for the leaders to meet one another.” She then proceeds to give him orders. “Take over for me, I still need to check the new hybrid’s stabilizers and current health conditions, so I’ll leave that to you. I’ll run through the exams and paperwork later on, wait on finalizing anything until I’ve looked them over.” Chlotz nodded to her before he motioned towards the door.

“Sure thing Princess. Now, take the security down, you can’t use that much energy in one go like you use to.” Alice glared at him before her eyes once again faded into an azure shade. The room lit up with the sun’s natural light as the windows returned to their natural transparency and the door behind them became unlocked. The paladin’s looked around, admiring the actions while Shiro just stared at her eyes, watching them fade back into their natural golden beauty.

Her eyes, her motions, the way she speaks, everything about this woman so far felt so familiar to him and it was eating away at him. Alice then walked over to Chlotz before slamming her hand into the back of his head. Chltoz hissed and rubbed his sore spot as he watched Alice cross her arms and look towards the door.

“Don’t try to act like you know my limits Chlotz.” Chlotz could see she was still pretty tired, the bags under her eyes proved that. She sighed as she began to walk towards the large doors, pulling them open. She looked over her shoulder to the paladins.

“Well, you all tagging along or am I going to have to meet the Altean Princess all by myself?” She began to walk down the halls, her hair following behind her like fine crimson thread. Lance had regained himself and held his head as he groaned, worked his way to his feet, and rubbed his back. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he followed the hand down the arm to Pidge’s grin filled expression.

“How was space lover boy?” Lance grimaced as he started walking, the other paladins holding in a chuckle at Pidge’s comment and the memory of his lanky body flying through the air.

“I don't’ wanna talk about it.”

“We should follow the princess, we don't’ know the castle grounds here yet, we could get lost if we lose her.” Shiro announced this and the others nodded, soon following after Alice’s figure and ever so slowly caught up to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLZ POINT OUT ANY AND ALL SPELLING OR GRAMMATICALLY INCORRECT ERRORS. THANKS


	4. Chapter 4

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Princess Allura of Altea. This is Coran, a fellow Altean and friend of mine. Welcome to our castle, we appreciate your help.” Allura had just met with Alice. The two stood in front of each other, Alice offering a smile to Allura, one in which she returned.

“It’s a pleasure. I’m Alice, the guardian of this planet.” Alice looked to the orange haired Altean introduced to her as Coran. “I’ve heard your ship has a few damages. Might I see what they are?” Coran straightened up as he addressed the foreign princess.

“Of course, right this way!” His chipper voice rang throughout the halls and soon Alice was following behind him. Coran was mumbling and blabbing on as Alice fell behind him and began to walk beside Shiro, who had followed the duo.

“So, is there a reason you decided to follow us?” Shiro didn’t know why he followed after them, it seemed like something he should do for some reason. It felt natural, like he’d followed behind her before. He shook his head slightly as he looked down to her, a guilty smile on his face.

“Not in particular. I just tagged along I guess.” Alice raised her brow as she hummed, he could hear the disapproval in his answer from her throat, but he wasn’t about to back himself up. Besides, the other paladins were back with Allura, so she would be safe.

Coran had called out to Alice as he began to show her into a control room and point out some defenses that needed to be repaired as well a a few offense tools. Alice looked them over, talking to herself before discussing topics with Coran. Shiro stood by and watched as the two conversed and all the while, he was listening on what he could hear, to gather information about the castle itself that he never knew. He’d been living in it for a while, it’s not like he was doing anything wrong by wanting to know more.

Alice had asked Coran to bring her a sample of an out of commission weapon so that she could run a diagnostic scan on it, so he scampered out of the room to retrieve something. Shiro watched as Alice sighed and pushed up her long sleeve that hug at her biceps and his eyes widened as she opened a part of her arm. Her arm that she seemingly opened was white, not much contrasting against her pale skin. Her fingers moved rapidly over her arm as a gleam from it reflected in her eyes. It was like she was looking at a computer screen.

Shiro pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against and uncrossed his arms as he made his way over to the woman. She shifted her gaze up to see him coming at her and sighed as she looked back down and continued doing, whatever it was she was doing. Shiro now stood at her side as he looked over her shoulder to see what she was doing. On, or rather, in her arm was a control-like panel. Words flashed on the screen,but they were all written in some language, one he couldn’t translate, but definitely recognized.

It really was a computer. It was like someone had removed her forearm and replaced it with a prosthetic one, only this one came with the limited edition hacking and computer control capabilities. Shiro only knew of one kind that would do that for experimentation.

“Is that Galra?” Alice sighed as she reached over her arm and shut her control panel. A blue light, small and rectangular, shone were the seam of the top would be, obviously some sort of locking mechanism.

“You’re not the only one with Galra Tech. Be lucky the Druids only took your arm, it could be worse.” Alice lightly hit his prosthetic arm and this made Shiro curious. The more he thought about it, the more he got the sense of deja-vu again. Why did this feeling keep coming back to him, and why is it only coming to him when Alice is around? More so, he was in his paladin armor, so one wouldn’t be able to tell he had a fake arm, and if one could, it could’ve been from any other planet. However, Alice knew about both his prosthetic, as well as who gave it to him.

“Wait, how do you know my arm was taken from me?” At that question, Coran entered the room and asked for Alice to follow him, saying he found more than his fair share of things she could use to scan. She nodded to him, but before she left, she looked over her shoulder at Shiro, a small, almost sad smile on her face.

“It doesn’t matter, forget about it.” With that, she left the room with Coran, leaving Shiro there to think and wonder. Was this ‘Alice’ woman a friend, a previous captured victim of the Galra? If she was, what was taken from her when the Galra installed her arm and all it’s capabilities? Who was Alice?

Shiro, after getting left alone when Alice went of with Coran to continue scanning and preparing the proper tools and mechanics for ship repairs, left and headed back to the lounge, where he found the paladins, seemingly bored. Lance lay across the couch seats, both Keith and Hunk sat across from him, on a separate couch altogether, and Pidge was sat on the floor, sitting against the wall, her laptop on her lap as she had it plugged in, her screen reflecting from her glasses. All of them had changed back into their civilian clothes.

“Hey, where’s Alice?” Pidge looked up from her laptop and to Shiro.

“She’s still with Coran. They’re looking for damages and scanning for some material I think.” Lance waved his foot in the air, before rolling himself off the couch and to his feet, pulling at his jacket collar, straightening it out.

“Well, it sounds like the perfect situation of damsel in distress. So I, the prince, will go and save her from the mumbo-jumbo known as Coran talking non-stop Altean.” The Cuban boy strode to the door, but didn’t get past Shiro, as the leader grabbed his jacket hood, pulling him back.

“I don’t think so. I don’t think they need any distractions right now.” Lance huffed as he worked out of Shiro’s grip.

“Pfft, I’m not a distraction. If anything, I’d make their work that much more efficient. I mean, look at me.” Keith rolled his eyes and Hunk laughed before covering his mouth. Pidge just ignored him and went back to typing whatever it was on her laptop as Shiro reached out and placed his robotic arm on the shoulder of the man, offering a slightly sympathetic smile.

“Survey says, stay here sharpshooter.” Lance rolled his eyes and whipped his body around, turning and moved to flop himself back on the couch like a distressed teenage who was just told they couldn’t go out to Taco Bell with his mates. Shiro placed his hands on his hips as he smiled and huffed his chest out, shaking his head slightly. He felt like the father of 4 rowdy teenagers with 4 different stages in life.

“I’m going to check with Allura on how the repairs are going.” Shiro turned to leave, but stopped momentarily and turned around, extending his index finger and moving it to be over each of the other paladins. “Do not, bother Coran of the princess. Understood?” Everyone nodded as Keith stood up and walked towards Shiro.

“I’m coming with you.” Shiro shrugged, he didn’t see any reason why not. It’s not like he’d be disturbing anything, and keith wouldn’t wander off or be distracted by anything like anyone else would.

“Let’s go.” He gave one final warning to the remaining 3 as he left with Keith. The two walked around and soon Keith initiated conversation.

“So, do you know that Alice girl, or something?” Shiro looked at the smaller boy, clad in red.

“No, I haven’t seen her before.”

“Oh. It’s just, when we met her, you had this look, like you’ve seen her before or something.” Shiro’s brow furrowed slightly as his eyes narrowed.

“I feel like I’ve met someone like her, but it’s probably just my imagination.” Keith didn’t like arguing with Shiro, and he seemed like he was thinking about the situation of Alice as well, so he didn’t press any further into the issue.

The two walked into the large open room, seeing Allura with Coran and Alice by his side. They are conversed as Shiro and Keith approached, them finally taking notice to the small, long cylindrical piece of machine Coran held.

“Ah, Shiro and Keith. Do you need something?” Allura followed Coran’s gaze as he watched the two paladins enter, and she turned around to greet them with a smile.

“Not really, no. Just came to see if we could do anything, see how the progress is coming.” Shiro shook his head as he answered the dark skinned Altean.

“Its coming along well. Unfortunately, the repairs will end up taking longer than we had hopped.” Coran then piped up next as he held up the piece in his hands.

“This here is a Alciya Pipe. It’s exceedingly rare to come across since they are difficult to manufacture. However, with Alice and technology on this planet, she can supply was with the correct amount we need to install the repairs and we can be off.” Keith rose his brow, trying to pretend he knew what Coran was talking about as he then looked to Alice who took the pipe from Coran to examine it.

“So, you can give us the stuff to fix the castle, and at what price?” Keith stepped forward and him being who he is, was always skeptical, and so his tone was rather harsh. He didn’t know these people, what if they charged them something they couldn’t give. Shiro stepped and grabbed the younger man’s shoulder.

“Keith-”

“It’s fine.” Alice interrupted Shiro. Alice’s eyes moved up and down the pipe as she then lifted her head and met eye contact with Keith. “I have agreed to help repair your ship out of the consideration of myself and my people.” Her eyes narrowed a bit, as if she had been hiding something. They shifted to Shiro as she put a smile on her face and then shut her eyes completely. “I have my own reasons for giving you my help, so I will not charge you anything.”

Keith’s eyes widened. No human would offer a huge service out of the goodness of their heart, and he assumed no alien would either. He didn’t know what race Alice was, she looked so human-like, but so did Altean’s really. He also looked at Shiro, as the hand that still rested on his shoulder tightened on Keith’s body unconsciously.

“Shiro.” Keith got the man’s attention as he unlatched his hand from the red fabric of Keith’s jacket and put it back to his side. Alice then gave the pipe back to Coran and address Allura.

“I’ll have some of my smiths in the castle issue you some new pipes. I don’t know how long the process will take, but I will notify you once the first sample is done. I’d like to make sure they will suffice before we begin making them all.” Coran spoke up then.

“I would like to come with you, if that’s alright. I’d like to see how these pipes are manufactured, and how skilled the smith is in forging them.” Alice didn’t see a problem in his accompaniment. In this way, she could assure to him she did indeed possess the correct materials and minerals for the piece.

“Coran, you head with Alice back to her castle, and get the repairs underway. Meanwhile, would it be alright if our Paladin’s explore your world. They seem to get bored rather quickly.” Allura chuckled at the end of her sentence, causing Shiro to smirk and Keith to cross his arms attempting to deny her accusation that was 100% correct. Alice laughed as she held her stomach at the sight of a pouting Keith.

“It’s no trouble at all. They are free to roam where they please. Just don’t blame me if you all get lost.” Keith rolled his eyes as he turned to leave the room. He wouldn’t say it, but he was happy to get out of the boring old castle. He wanted to get out for a while. Shiro only shook his head at him before turning.

“I’ll go tell the others they can explore.” Shiro then left.

“Well then, shall we get going? Those Alciya Pipe won’t make themselves.” Coran’s loud loud echoed in the empty room as Alice nodded.

“Of course. Princess Allura, don’t tire yourself out. You should go get out too, this won’t be a quick job.” Allura nodded to the crimsonette.

“Yes, i think I will. I’m rather curious to see your people.” Alice offered her a chuckle.

“I think you’ll find them quite unique.” With that the remaining three figures left, Coran and Alice into the castle of Arcadia and Allura to explore the new planet. Shiro on the other hand had told the three remaining paladins they were free to roam as well. Hunk pumped the air, finally ready to see what kind of gourmet they had on this planet.

Pidge stretched as she shut her laptop, standing and ready to see what kind of technology they had and how to use it. And Lance practically jumped off the couch, running out of the room talking about all the beautiful sights he would see, by beautiful sights, everyone knew he meant he was going to hit on every female alien with a pretty face, who knows, maybe even though in a pretty alien guy. The boy’s flexible in more ways than one.

“Well, I guess that leaves me. What am I gonna do?” Shiro rubbed his head as he headed off the castleship as well, not sure what he wanted to do or what he wanted to see. He wasn’t sure on what he was curious about, and he didn’t want to ask about Zarkon, as it seemed for once they were finally able to catch a break. He didn’t want to ruin the fun for his team. So, he just opted into walking around the castle for a while.

While walking around he was called out to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLZ POINT OUT ANY AND ALL SPELLING/GRAMMATICAL ERRORS THANKS


	5. Chapter 5

“Hey, Mr. paladin!” Shiro looked around and then turned to see the blue haired boy from before. Shiro turned to face him, as Chlotz had his hands behind his head, seemingly relaxed.

“Hey, Chlotz right?” The alien nodded as he grinned.

“Yup, but I’m terrible with names.” Shiro huffed as he smiled.

“It’s Shiro.” Chlotz opened his mouth as he seemed to get a familiar ring to his name. He scoffed as he rolled his eyes to one side.

“Right. I should’ve known that, she did-” He caught himself talking, before he stopped and dropped his arm to his side, clearing his throat. “Anyways, where you heading to?” Shiro shook his head, shrugging.

“Nowhere really. I just wanted to see what the inside of the castle was like. It’s so much different than the Castle of Lions.” Shiro lifted his head and looked around, admiring the design and architecture. Chlotz then placed his hands on his hips and walked closer to Shiro, slinging his arm around the paladin’s neck, bringing him down a bit, as Chlotz stood just a tad taller than Shiro.

“Well then! Hows about a little tour? I’ve been here a year, so I’m pretty familiar with this place.” Shiro blinked up at him as he tried to stand up straight again.

“Really? Only a year?” Chlotz looked down at him.

“Yup, I got here around the same time Alice found this place.” At that Shiro, rather politely, removed the alien’s arm from his neck and faced him.

“Wait, so Alice isn’t from here?” Chlotz grinned as he fixed his bandana around his head. He then started walking forward.

“Follow me. Then I’ll answer your questions.” Shiro began to tail after the blue haired alien as they walked the halls of the castle. Shiro still looked to either side, hoping to find some art of some kind, and soon he did see small little landscape paintings, and some portraits of what looked like different races, covered some walls. He was pulled from his thoughts as Chlotz ushered him towards a large window that he stood by.

“Come look outside, take a look at what our planet looks like.” Shiro made his way to the window and looked out it. The land was green and a small village was near the castle. They had houses, ranging in height and in width. Some had small lawns, some had gardens and fences even. The tree had swirled trunks and their leaves were all sorts of colors, not just green. The sky was a gradient shade of blue and lavender and it looked like something out of a child’s dream.

However, what really took Shiro’s attention was the citizens of the planet. He hardly saw a matching species. There were aliens that looked like the kind they once met on a moon who stole Lance’s lion once, Nyma and Rolo. There were giant greenland type aliens, aliens that looked like fish with legs, gill on the exposed chests and a long, cap like fin attached to the back of their heads. There were also, what he guessed to be animals, of all kinds. Some resembling the average alien dog or cat, but some he had no idea on where to begin to describe them.

“You see, we’re a special planet. None of these people were born here. They found this place, or they were brought her by someone.” Chlotz looked out the window, watching the people go to and fro with their daily duties. “Some have been here for decapheebs, others have only been here a couple quintants. It was a coincidence when I arrived a year ago, and Alice’s arrival only followed me by a few vargas.” Chlotz began to remember how Alice arrived. It was much more, louder than his.

“How did she find this place?” Shiro was curious, and he couldn’t help but think about the moments of familiarity he felt, or the feeling of deja vu he had when around her. Maybe, if he heard how she came here, he’d remember something, anything. Had he heard of her before? Caught a glimpse of her somewhere before?

“Well, no one knows where she came from initially, but she crashed here on a small pod. It was destroyed in the crash, and she had wanted the pod destroyed as soon she was conscious. Where she came from, she was lucky to have landed here of all places.” Chlotz thought for a moment before continuing. “I remember, she was covered in wounds, like she had just got out of a battle, and she wore a strange suit with a cloak around it.” The blue haired alien then shook his head and sighed. “I don’t remember anymore.”

Shiro nodded. Nothing triggered any memories. Maybe, he didn’t know her after all, and he was just being paranoid. After being locked up for a year by aliens, who wouldn’t be? He then began to wonder. She had an arm installment of the Galra. Had she crashed here in a Galra pod, escaping maybe? If she, she had escaped around the same time Shiro did.

Was she held captive, or maybe she was one who worked under Zarkon, but for some reason fled? He didn’t know, but even if she seemed so suspicious, he wanted to trust her. Something in him told him she was safe, and he made it a point to trust his gut.

Chlotz then began to continue show Shiro around the castle. Chlotz had shown Shiro a large portrait of Alice hanging on what looked like the main entrance, as opposed the the entrance the crew came through towards the back of the castle. Chlotz explained how she was embarrassed to see a painting of her, so she wasn’t sure of hanging it up, but she was so proud of have someone in her presence to make such art, so she did anyways.

It was walking around and talking about the planet a bit, that the two were interrupted by a voice that was a bit further in front of them. They were speaking about something called Crytsinale, and heating it to chance it’s properties to that of flexible matter. Soon, walking closer to it, they found it was Alice, talking to a couple of smaller looking aliens holding some sort of crystal. They nodded at her instructions as the couple left and Alice just sighed.

“What’s with the sigh Millady?” Alice turned around to see Chlotz waving to her, smiling and Shiro beside him. She placed her arms across her chest, as she slouched slightly.

“Nothing to worry your brain over.” She then looked to Shiro. “Chlotz giving you a tour of the castle?” Shiro nodded to her, as she looked back at him. “Oh, where are you two off to next?” Chlotz tilted his head up and closed his eyes in thought. Where had he not taken him yet? Alice sighed again. “Well, if you’d like, I’m heading back down to the smiths to see how the Alciye Pipes are coming along. Care to join me boys?”

Chlotz put his hands back behind his head.

“Sure, I’ll tag. I have something to discuss with the merchant by the farms anyhow, so I needed to get out there sometime.” Alice nodded.

“Discussing trades again?” Chlotz only grinned as the princess turned to Shiro.

“What about you Black Paladin? You wanna come explore the town. I bet you would probably run into your friends too.” Shiro easily agreed.

“Sure thing. I’ve seen your castle, so next stop was to venture the town Princess.” Alice nodded.

“Alright then, let’s head out.” She started walking, but stopped midway. “Oh, and shiro.” She gained his attention. “Don’t call me by my title. With you also calling Allura ‘princess’, it’s flattering sure, but rather confusing. Just use my name.” Shiro nodded as her, as Chlotz jumped in and pointed to himself.

“Can I forget the formalities too Milady?” Alice rolled her eyes and knocked him on the head, making him wince. “If I told you to call me by my name, you’d call me by my title. And If I told you to call me by my title, you’d call me by my name.” Chlotz rubbed his head as she smirked. “You already do what you want anyways.” He shrugged, not in denial.

“That’s true.” Shiro chuckled at them as they soon headed into Arcadia’s castle town, Mythious.


	6. Chapter 6

Mythious. The castle town of the kingdom on the planet of Arcadia where the Paladins, Allura and Coran all landed to tend to the Castle of Lions. Currently, Shiro was following around the kingdom’s princess as well as her aide Chlotz. They were discussing something as they walked through the town, but Shiro didn’t listen in much, as he was busy looking around and taking in the sights. 

It was something looking at all the diverse species from a window in the castle, but up close, it all seems to surreal. You think, with how long he’s been around aliens, he’d be use to this. Everyone was talking, laughing. Children played of all different types and accompanied the animals. Shiro watched as aliens stood well over his head, while some never ever came close to his waist. He smiled at it all. It seemed so peaceful. 

“Princess!” Shiro’s attention was brought in front of him, where Chlotz and Alice walked and were cut off by a small group of children running to them. Chlotz chuckled as he stepped slightly out of the way, just enough room for the children to run into the lower part of Alice’s body. 

“Hello, little ones. What are you all playing today?” Alice smiled down to them as they all giggled back to her. They held her shirt, her hands, and her sleeves that hung from her arm. Some children even jumped and stood on their toes. 

“We’re playing with the Dichious!” A small, yellow skinned alien with long tendrils hanging from her head like dreadlocks and small webbed hands answered her. They referred to the animal that was behind a fence and stood on 6 legs before rearing up on only 2, leaving the other four to hang by its sides. Alice knelt down and poked the forehead of a small alien boy with gray skin and four broken horns on his head and two on each of his shoulders. 

“You all have fun, but be careful. Dichious’ can be playful, but if they get too riled up, they can be harmful.” The children nodded and ran off to play once again. Alice stood back up and fixed her sleeves and clothes that were tugged on from the children. Chlotz chuckled as Shiro moved closer to him. 

“Does she always entertain the children?” Shiro whispered to the aide. Chlotz put his knuckles by his mouth as he smiled. 

“When she’s not busy, she tries to come into town as often as possible, so she doesn’t lose any connections with her people.” Shiro nodded as Alice turned around, now stood up and eyed the two. She placed her arms over her chest as she raised one brow. 

“Care to share with the group what it is you two are chatting about? I’m sure it’s quite the story.” Chlotz waved it off as Shiro felt a chill run up his spine as he nervously chuckled. Chlotz just walked forward, his arms above his head, leaving Alice and Shiro in his dust. 

“My stop is here, so I’ll have to bid you guys farewell.” with that, Chlotz was gone, disappearing into a shop. Alice only huffed as she uncrossed her arms and placed a hand on her hip. Shiro glanced at her profile for a moment. 

Her hair, that seemed a flame in the brightness of the gaseous sun, had slowly but surely started becoming unbraided. Strands of it loose and wisping about her neck. Her eyes darted back and forth as she watched what was going on around her, he even took into account how her pupils readjusted themselves when she would blink and how her eyelashes created the faintest of shadows over her golden irises. 

Shiro finally realized, he had been staring at he for far too long as he felt the warmth of his cheeks flare and gasped at his actions, in turn throwing himself into a coughing fit. Alice looked at him as he was now, knees bent, one hand on the ground for balance as he put his head down and tilted to the side, a smile on his face that shouted his own disbelief of the situation. He caught his breath as Alice stretched. 

“Well, we should get moving. The smith’s isn’t too far from here. Come on.” Alice started walking as Shiro still remained on the ground, looking up through his white hair to see her walking off. He sighed as she stood and easily caught up to her speed. A few minutes later, Alice stood at the front door of a small hunt as she rapped her knuckles against it. She then stepped back from the door when she heard the sound of someone approaching it. 

“Oh! Princess, we just finished the first pipe and were about to deliver it to you right away!” Alice chuckled at the alien who answered the door. Shiro would only describe it as a flexible coat hanger with multiple, just was bendy limbs. The eyes where at the top of their, assumed, body and one the end of one horizontal bar, almost reminding the human of a the eyes and face of a hammerhead shark back on earth. He tried his best not to stare, but it was rather difficult. 

“You’re building a repair part for a foreign ship, the least I can do is pick it up.” Alice and Shiro were invited inside, as alice was pulled aside and given a pipe while Shiro stood to take in the inside of the hut. From the outside, it seemed much smaller. The inside was filled with chimneys and fireplaces. Ovens of designs and kinds he has never seen littered the walls and tools of craft hung from hooks on the ceiling. Hammers, pokers, tweezers, pliers, gloves, anything one would find in a black smith shop. There were cabinet along the backwall of minerals, jars of liquids, crystals and potions. Shiro also took into account how hot it was in this particular shop. 

“Well, I’ll take this back to Coran who is waiting for me on his ship, and I’ll get back to you.” Alice took the pipe as the hanger alien waved her off and the princess approached the paladin. She held up the pipe as Shiro took it to examine it. 

“We got the Alciya Pipe. Now we head back to your ship and see if it meets the requirement for your repairs.” Shiro admired the craftsmanship. One could see the shine of the Crytsinale forged into the metallic base and the gleam of the technology pushing through the pipe for it’s main purpose, to maintain a ship. 

“Alright. I’ll take you back to the Castle of Lions.” Alice took the pipe back from Shiro and headed for the door. Before she stepped out, she turned around and pointed to the smith. 

“You better take a rest. You can’t just work on something like this and keep going. It’s tough, so take a break you hear?” The hanger alien nodded and Alice then left, Shiro tailing behind her. They were in the middle of the village when they heard a commotion from inside a merchandise shop they passed by. It wasn’t anything to be alarmed by, but the voices from inside made Shiro drop his shoulders and look at the building, hoping and praying it wasn’t his team. Alice eyed him and covered her mouth to keep from laughing at the sullen face he was making as she turned to head inside. 

“Hello in there!” She knocked on the door and when she spoke, she heard the noise completely stop. Dead silence followed her. She then turned the handle to enter, but the handle stopped midway. It wasn’t locked, but someone held it from the inside. Someone didn’t want her in. She looked over her shoulder to Shiro, as he smirked and shrugged his shoulders. He knew who was in there, and he knew she did too. She let go of the handle and took a few steps back to stand by Shiro again. 

“Well?” Alice looked to the door and nodded her head towards it. Shiro crossed his arms as she closed his eyes and nodded. 

“After you,” he motioned to the door. The princess smiled and whispered an apology before she took a few side steps and, with enough force behind her, lifted her leg and slammed her foot into the door, knocking it off it’s hinges. The door fell inwards, and along with the noise of the wood splitting, came few squeaks of surprise as the door landed. 

The door, now on the ground, didn’t lay perfectly on the floor, not at all flat. Alice saw the pairs of arms as they twitched and suppressed a laugh. She then stepped on the door, hearing the squeaks and groans of the couple people underneath it. She then bent her knees and places her elbows on them, looking under the door, her hair falling away from her body. 

Underneath were Pidge and Lance. 

“Have you learned your lesson?” Pidge, who lay on top of lance, between the door and him, looked at the boy beneath her, taking all the weight and sighed at each other. 

“Yes ma’am.” They both answered simultaneously and Alice jumped off the door, then Shiro stepped forward and lifted it off them. The two took deep breaths as Pidge rolled off Lance. 

“So, mind telling me why you didn’t want us inside?” Alice questioned as she lift Pidge off the ground, then offered her hand to Lance. Lance looked at her hand and quickly picked himself off the floor, took her hand and stood up. He held her hand and stepped closer to her, nearly touching his chest to her own. The proximity of the two was rather thin, and Shiro’s brow twitched at it. 

“I knew you were on the other side of the door beautiful, and I knew, if you saw my elegance so suddenly, you wouldn’t be able to take it.” Lance spoke with a certain, flirty twang in his voice as he looked at the princess. The look she returned was one of a rather dull expression. “I was just looking out for your well being princ-AGH!” Lance was cut off as Shiro grabbed the boy by the back of his jacket and shirt collar, and removed him from Alice. 

“Her well being is being invaded by you.” Lance tripped over the door edge on the floor and fell against Shiro’s chest. He opened his mouth, almost to protest, but stopped and raised his brows a moment before reaching over and and behind him to feel along Shiro’s chest. 

“Wow, you do have a nice chest.” Shiro’s brow twitched. 

“Lance.” He scolded the boy as he quickly jumped of him and turn back to Alice. 

“But, your chest is much better in my opinion.” Lance held his hand out to flirt with Alice as she blinked and looked down to her chest, rather to the curves of her breasts and then looked up to Lance smiling. Shiro behind him grew irritated further and from both the front and the back, he got hands to collide with his head. Alice struck at his cheek, while Shiro slapped the back of his head. 

“Ow!” Lance squatted to the floor, holding his head as he looked up to see both Shiro and Alice glaring down at him, arms crossed. He nervously chuckled as he held his arms up in defence before Pidge stepped in. 

“To answer your question, we walked in this shop and no one was in here, so we went looking around and when we heard you, we didn't want you to think we were stealing or anything.” Alice looked around, and indeed didn’t see a worker in sight. Plus, when she kicked the door down, no one came running to check out the damage or the sound. She cupped her chin and leaned forward to look closer at Pidge. 

“Oh really?” Pidge nodded, a bit nervous under Alice’s stern gaze, like the way a mother would look at her child to see if they were lying. Alice then smiled and straightened back up. “Well, I believe you. Just, next time, don’t make me break the door down, alright?” Pidge sighed in relief as she nodded. 

“Um, milady?” A new voice sounded from the doorway, as an alien with 4 arms stood on two legs, holding paper bags with all sorts of items in them. Alice stepped forward and then looked at the broken door. 

“Ah, Mihpans. I’m sorry about your door, I’m come around and fix it once I get back from the visiting ship.” Alice put her hands together as she bowed. “Sorry about this!” The alien only chuckled and waved it off. 

“It’s no problem. I can have it repaired in no time at all.” Alice stood upa nd shook her head. 

“No way, I kicked it down, so I’ll fix it. I mean it, that door better be on the ground when I come back, you hear me?” She scolded the alien, once again, much like a mother. The alien only bowed. 

“Yes Milady.” The alien then walked inside and to the back before Alice announced she was going back to the castle, Shiro still with her. 

“Now, you two, don’t cause anymore trouble please.” Alice told Pidge and Lance as the princess and Shiro left. Lance crossed his arms and looked down as if in deep thought. Scrunching his nose and even furrowing his brow. 

“What are you doing? You look like you're struggling?” Pidge adjusted her glasses as Lance sighed. 

“Shiro acted like he was protecting a girlfriend. I wonder, does he have a thing for her?!” Pidge shrugged. It's not like she really cares. 

“I doubt it, but who cares. Let’s go explore!” She grabbed his arm and the two then ran off.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is almost a week late, because I forgot about AO3 for a bit, but I will still post tomorrow's chapter tomorrow, so worry not! Wednesdays will still be update days!

Time passed by and Alice met with Coran on the ship where they confirmed the useage of the Alciya Pipe and soon the paladins’ returned as it grew later, and they grew sluggish and tired. As the paladins’ soon went to bed one by one, only Shiro was left as he saw Alice off with Allura with him. 

“We thank you for the aid in the repairs. They should be finished in a quintent or so, if we’re lucky.” Alice nodded. 

“It’s no problem at all, really. Arcadia is willing to let you all stay for as long as you require.” Alice rolled up her long sleeve that hung on her bicep and opened the control panel implanted in her arm. She pressed around on it and Shiro watched as her eyes darted back and forth and saw the reflection of all the lights glint off her iris. “I’ve recorded the number of Alcyia Pipes your ship needed, and if for some reason you all need to make repairs again and are not within Arcadia’s reach, I’ll make a log of the material you will require, where and how to find them.”

“That really is kind of you, thank you for your cooperation.” Allura spoke with a smile before she looked down at the crimsonettes arm.

“Of course, anything to help. You are fighting against the Galra, anything is helpful and you need all the allies you can get.” She finished what she was doing before shutting the panel and pulling her sleeve back down to rest by her wrist. Shiro watched the two converse, but very much wanted to ask how she had come into contact with such technology from the Galra. Was she once captured? He had no idea, if she had been, perhaps he had seen her before in a ship. 

“If you require anymore aid, just send for me. I’m usually seen in the main hall of the castle. Sleep well Princess.” Alice spoke as she bid farewell to Allura and briefly looked at Shiro as well. “You too, get some rest.” Shiro only nodded as Alice was soon gone. Allura approached Shiro as he was now looking at his prosthetic arm.

“Shiro? Are you alright?” Shiro looked up to the Altean princess and dropped his arm, offering a reassuring smile. 

“It’s nothing. I’m going to bed, sleep well Princess.” Allura smiled back to him. 

“Of course, you as well Shiro. I appreciate the help you gave us today.” Shiro nodded and waved as he traveled to his room and removed his boots, and casual clothing slipping into his bed with nothing but a pair of sweatpants. He put his human hand behind his head as he stared up at nothing. 

Over in the Arcadian castle, Princess Alice couldn’t sleep either. She sat at her bedroom window, clothed in a black crop-top and long pantaloons, looking over the darkened sky of her town, her planet. She watched as lights in house went out one by one, people and creatures alike all sleeping for the night. Even her castle was silent save from the humming of machinery among the halls. She pushed open her window as the breeze pushed her long, freed red hair.

She sighed as she got up and walked over to her small desk she held in her quarters and pulled out a thick book that sat on a shelf just above the desk top. She held it and inspected the cover. A blank, dusty leather covered book with pages that would relate to papyrus and a latch, keeping the inside contents sealed. She was the only one with the key to the book, as it hung around her neck, under her shirt. She then placed the book on the desktop and looked ahead, as if addressing a proclamation. 

“The paladin’s of Voltron, Zarkon, the Galra. It all happened much quicker than I had imagined. Perhaps, now is the time to act.” All the while, the light her arm which held flashed on and off. 

It was the next day now and when all the paladins came into the lounge, they were soon called by Coran to eat breakfast. They all silently hoped that Coran himself hadn’t made the food, and that it was a treat yourself kind of scenario. Thankfully, it was. It was a normal morning, just like any other day, only it was nice not being threatened by giant ships and guns. Shiro had announced while everyone was in the same place, that they were all remain in a group and first ask if they would be useful for any tasks before they all split up to go and explore more or have fun. 

It was an easy agreement, after all, they were docked on a planet not for relaxation, but important work. Breakfast was finished and they all met up at the drop down to exit the castleship, and was greeted with a chippered Chlotz. He looked up from the tablet-like device he held in his hand and waved to them, smiling. 

“Yo, morning paladins.” The group of 5 walked towards him as they greeted him in their own ways. Pidge stepped forward, eyeing his tablet. 

“Hey, what is that?” Chlotz looked at the small machine and chuckled. It was a a small, wide and short two handed contraption. It was metal on both sides, where your hands were grip and in the middle was a thin substance that had a blue tint to it, and also appeared translucent. 

“This is a Markihand. It can be used by children for games, but it can also be used for data collections, gathering information, charts and even photography.” He then took the device in both hands once again and smirked. “And check this out.” He then forced both his hands downward, bending the screen. It bent and twisted like rubbed, but looked almost like glass. “The screen is bendable and extremely sturdy as to avoid a high number of breaking points. This is just a beta, I’m testing it out for the princess.” Pidge’s eyes gleamed as Chlotz huffed with a smile and handed it to her. 

“Hold on to it for me and play around with it. It’ll be more durable if the occupant testing it is active. Just don’t lose it.” Pidge happily took the handheld and immediately started to fumble around with it. Hunk was with her, as he told her things to do with it, like take stupid selfies, look up random things, and ask how much space rock could fill up an Altean pool if it was cut into palm sized pieces. 

“I’ll come find you when the sun starts to descend, tell me what you think by then.” With that, Pidge and Hunk ran off, to do anything and everything, but also nothing while they try to figure the Markihand out. Chlotz chuckled as he watched them scurry off and turned to the remained three.

“What did you all have planned for today?” Lance looked at Shiro and Keith as they all shrugged to each other. The blue paladin then turned his gaze to the Altean hybrid and stuck his hands in his pockets, moving them from inside his jacket, making the ends of it flail about. 

“We actually were going to see if you had anything particular we could help out with. We had our fun yesterday, and now we’re ready to help.” Shiro smiled proudly at Lance. He was a goofball and pretty immature at most times, but he was sincere to a fault and even if they had asked them to do something yesterday when he was out relaxing, he had no doubt he wouldn’t dropped whatever he was doing to lend a hand. Keith even cracked the slightly smile at his teammate, knowing full well how kind he is, and how much he’s capable of with a clear conscience. 

“Help out? Hmm, well what did we have planned today?” Chlotz cupped his chin as he closed his eyes and looked up, running through his mental checklist for the day. He nodded to himself as he brought his head back down and opened his eyes, only to start counting on his fingers and naming his objectives. 

“Well, I was sent to help with the final repairs since the princess is too busy today. My lady has formal engagements today, as well as something she and I need to discuss. Then this afternoon, we’re scheduled to speak with the council of neighboring towns in this providence.” Chlotz huffed as he named off his schedule then looked at the three then offered a smile. He dropped his hands as he placed one hand on hip. 

“I guess, if anything, it’d be nice if you guys hung around Alice today. She’s getting ready to make a big decision, and she may not show it, but it’s stressing her pretty bad. I bet a little company from her new friends would lift her spirits.” Shiro smiled at Keith as he shrugged back with a smirk. They were down with the plan, it’d be interesting to see more of how this planet operates. Lance then piped up next, a smirk on his face that Shiro had taken to note he always had before he spouted off some nonsense. 

“So, I heard spend the day with my princess, be her bodyguard, and learn more about her so she and I can one day become a cou-” 

“Lance.”  
“Does he ever give it a rest.” 

Lance was interrupted by both Keith and Shiro as he looked over his shoulder to see both of them, arms crossed and eyes closed in disapproving expressions. Chlotz offered a slight scoff of amusement at the three as he then hunched forwards and started walking past the three. 

“Well, thanks for taking up the request. She should be in the same place you first met her. If he get lost, just ask a worker to help you.” With that he waved off to the paladins and headed inside the castleship to meet with Coran and help out with the final repairs. Shiro then turned to look at his two friends. 

“Well, I guess we have our standing orders. Let’s go.” Lance fist pumped the air as he started off first, as Shiro placed a hand on Keith's shoulder, seeing Keith’s sigh at the boy’s antics. 

“Can’t he learn to be a little serious?” Shiro scoffed at Keith’s complaint before speaking to him. 

“If he was, you wouldn’t be so fond of him, now would you?” Keith’s previously crossed arms harshly fell as he started choking on nothing and his face began to glow a faint pink as he looked up to his leader. Shiro only smiled innocently back and started walking ahead of him. 

“Hey- wait.. Shiro!” Keith stomped after Shiro as Lance was waiting at the entrance, impatiently tapping his foot, his arms cross and acting like an angry mom that was waiting for her husband to stop looking at R-rated magazines. Shiro chuckled as he looked at the sky before it was covered by the ceiling of the building. 

He already knew, it was going to be a long day.


	8. Chapter 8

The three had been wandering around the castle for a while, and even when there did make it to the room where they met Alice, she wasn’t in there. They were informed by a passing researcher that worked in the castle’s library, that she could be wandering around. She was usually pretty anxious when it came to anything political, as she wasn’t born in noble blood, she was just sort of, elected as princess. 

Not knowing exactly where to wander around to next, they found themselves standing in front of the large, doors of the castle library, which had doors made out of a material that looked almost like wood, but it definitely wasn’t wood. 

“The librarian guy said she was just wandering, so maybe she wandered in here.” Lance stuck his hands in his pockets as she questioned if she would be in the library or not. They hadn’t seen this particular place, and had no idea if it was even large enough to be worth traveling to. Sure the doors were huge, and it made it seem like a big deal, but they’ve been deceived before. 

“Why not check? I’d like to see what kind of information this planet has too.” Shiro, speaking with his wants to learn more about the planet he was on, spoke up. Keith was naturally next. 

“Didn’t Chlotz say that there were some books about Voltron here? Maybe we could learn something from them?” Lance and Shiro had forgotten about that. Mullet man had a point, so without further discussion, they pushed open one of the doors and stepped inside. 

The library was much extravagant then the group of three had imagined. There were large shelves of book that seemed to be as high as the ceiling and even a second floor. The stairwell to get to the second story were two spiral staircases leading up to the floor, one on the right and left side of the room. Inside there was a few creatures running around. Some with books in hand, others with papers and some even with carts with books on them to return them to their proper place. There were no windows in particular expect for the large, open skylight on the ceilings, showing the bright skies, clouds and sun. 

They had shut the door behind them as a figure from up on the second floor noticed them and walked to the railing of the overlook to the first floor. The person watched as they looked around, silently in awe of the room. They put a small smile on their face as they pushed off the railing and made for the stair case. 

“What brings you all to the library this early in the morning?” The three paladins turned to the voice to see Alice walked, rather elegantly, down the stairs. However, she was dressed different from yesterday. Today, she wore a much more elegant custom. She had a dress that hung to her knees in the front and slowly became longer as the very back of the dress brushed slightly against the ground. The top of the dress was cut off as it held no sleeves and was support on her breast. 

The colors were of pastels and seemed to clash with her bright red hair, but in an acceptable way. Her arms held decorations that hung on upper arm as well as a glove over her computer panel. Her hair was also lose and only part of her front bangs pulled back. She seemed much more like a princess dressed up as one. 

“Wow~ You clean up nice~” Lance of course was the first to open his mouth when she stepped close to them and stopped to talk with them. Alice rolled her eyes, basically expecting then. Shiro reached and shoved at Lance’s shoulder as Keith shared an eyeroll with the crimson princess. 

“To answer your question,” Shiro started, “we were wondering if you needed us to do anything. Chlotz told us you were pretty busy today.” Alice crossed her arms over her chest as she looked at them. 

“He told you to visit so I’ll relax did he?” She smiled slightly as the three of them nodded, knowing there was no point in trying to act like they just ran into her out of luck if she could call it out. Alice then continued. “Honestly, I’m just looking around for a book of different minerals and herbs from around the galaxy for a visitor later today. If you’d like, you can hang around and feel free to look for whatever books or information you want.” Keith then stepped forward, gaining her attention. 

“We heard that there were books about Voltron here?” Alice smiled to him. 

“Of course. You new paladins are still curious about Voltron’s history and how it got it’s name I’m sure. Follow me.” She turned as the three followed after her. They remained on the first floor as she looked around the shelves. “I don’t know how much information we have that will be helpful, but I can offer you what we have.” She was soon standing in front of a shorter shelf that had more worn and old book than others. She ran her fingers over spines of books, scanning titles as she finally smiled and blinked, pulling a couple of book out. 

The books were worn and seemed like they were much older than they actually looked. They weren’t the thickest in page number and of course, they weren’t written in English. Alice then asked for a translator, and from out of seemingly no where, a small flying creature appeared and handed her a small metal capsule. She thanked the creature before it flew off again. 

“Alright. These two here are some information on the lions as well as Voltron and even a bit of Altean knowledge is in there. She set the books on a small circular table as she then listed the small metal piece of equipment. “This is a Comiveter. It scans your body to find your race so that it can accurately translate the alien language into your own native one. Here, let me show you.” She turned it on it’s side as a small light turned on and a scanner ran over the bodies of the three of them before it beeped and identified them as human. 

“There, now that you have been identified, just place it on the top of the piece of paper you’d like to read and it scan the page to change the language without actually damaging the book.” Alice opened a book she had set out and turned to a random page. She then place the small metal piece on the top of the page as the three gathered around the table to watch as the alien scribbled turned into English writing. 

“Woah! Alien stuff is awesome man!” Alice laughed at Lance’s excitement before she let Keith have the books and called for another Comiveter for Lance and Shiro so they all had one. They were scanned and soon they were free to look at any book they wanted. 

“I hope you enjoy the library and find something to your liking. If you want to know if we have a certain book on a topic, just ask me or I’m sure someone running around here would be happy to help.” With that, she left the group and headed back upstair, however, Shiro followed her. 

Lance ran off to go explore and see what he could find as Keith sat where he was and started reading about Voltron and his lion. Shiro, instead of looking around for himself, decided to follow around Alice. She had already informed them what she was looking for, but he was curious to see what all she was reading while searching. 

Alice started to search around between bookshelves as Shiro stayed with her as he took looked around. As Alice looked and scanned books, picked them ran a few pages only to put them back and repeat the process with a different book she started speaking to Shiro. 

“You know, you don’t need to follow me.” Shiro pulled small book and placed his translator to the top of pages scanning them and deciding if he was interested or not. 

“I’m aware. I just felt like accompanying you.” Alice scoffed as she finally found the book she’d been looking for. It happened to be a bit higher than she could reach however. Shiro noticed her reaching for it before she stopped and looked to her sides, probably looking for something to help her reach it. She smiled a bit as he placed the book he had back and stepped towards her. His chest pressed against her back as he reached and easily grabbed the book for her, his mechanical arm letting Alice see her own expression of surprise in it. 

Shiro stepped back as Alice turned around to face him. She offered the book to her, a smile on his face. Alice blinked a few times and shook off her surprise. 

“Bold move for a leader.” Alice took the book as he shrugged. 

“What can I say, I’m a helper.” She rolled her eyes as she cracked open the book. Shiro walked and stood at her side, reading over her shoulder, but of course, not being able to read anything. “What’s this about? Herbs and minerals right?” He looked at some illustrations of plants and rocks, even some creatures on the pages. 

“Hand me your Comiveter.” Shiro handed it to her as she clipped it to the top of the book, allowing it to scan the book as a whole and soon Shiro was reading along with Alice. 

“This is an herb that can be boiled and mixed with medications to treat laser burns. It’s called Shympian.” A herb that had large leaves and lilac stems. “This one here, is a rock called Humonpious. It can be used to forge durable appliances for kitchens and homes. It’s less likely to break or malfunction than your standard rocks you’d find on a mountain top or something.” Alice flipped through the pages and pointed to different plants and rocks and creatures that haverested or aided the mineral or herb she explained and Shiro was happy. 

He found the atmosphere or knowledge and calm around Alice teaching him and teaching him so many new things pleasant. He would ask questions if he heard or saw reoccurring words. He’d ask about ways things could be combined or what the outcome could be if something were to made or forge incorrectly. 

Time passed and soon someone called out to the two. 

“Excuse my rudeness, but you’re guests will be arriving soon Milady.” Alice looked up as she saw Chlotz, standing there with a smirk on his face. Alice looked up to the skylight, guessing the time as she nodded to him. 

“Alright.” She then turned towards Shiro, him being closer to her than she expected. She stepped over a bit as she unattached his Comiveter and handed it back to him and shut the book, tucking it under her arm. “I have to go greet with my visitors, but I will be asking for you and your friends presence later on. I’m going to be announcing something, and I’d like you all to know as well, as I’ll soon have a favor to ask.” 

Shiro blinked at her statement and request for the paladins, Allura and Coran to show up later. But, nonetheless, he didn’t see why they couldn’t. 

“Alright. No problem. Oh, and thanks for the lesson.” He joked as she turned and walked towards Chlotz. 

“No problem. I’ll give you another one soon.” Then with her own smirk, Chlotz offered her to leave first and then they were gone, leaving Shiro to stand on his own between the shelves. He kept wondering what her reason was for requesting them, but didn’t dwell on it. He’d know soon enough. 

That afternoon, after telling Lance and Keith to meet back at the ship in a few hours, he set to find Pidge and Hunk playing around in town. He told them the same thing as they agreed and he headed back to the ship to tell Allura and Coran. 

“What?” Allura, who was working on something on the main bridge controls, turned to Shiro. “She wants up to come and attend a meeting with her guests. Aren’t they just diplomatic discussions?” Shiro shook his head. 

“I’m not sure, but she said she had something important to talking about, and she wanted us there. She also said she had a favor to ask us afterward.” Allura swung her arm, making the controls disappear as Coran, who had been at his control desk, walked up to the pair. 

“Well, if she’s asked I don’t see why not. She’s helped us repair the castle, and given us extra repair supplies should we require them again. The least we can do is attend a meeting.” He did have a point. The repairs had been finished as the Alteans were only running diagnostics and making sure everything was running smoothly. 

“Alright, you have a point. Well, I guess we’ll be there. Make sure the rest of the paladins make it back to the ship before meeting. Since this is also a meeting of higher class, you all will need to dress in uniform.” Shiro nodded as they all now planned to be escorted to the meeting room a few hours later. 

The paladins were all in uniform as Coran and Allura were in their normal attire, Allura in her dress, as they were being lead to the room by a worker in the castle. They suspected that Chlotz was with Alice and couldn’t lead them himself. When they arrived at a set of doors to an outside building, it almost resembled a greenhouse. 

“You may enter.” The voice was Alice as she spoke and the doors were opened. Inside wa a wide open building with plants and flowers everywhere. It was warm, yet not humid and a large, rectangular table sat in the center of it. At it sat all sorts of people, with Alice on the end. 

“Welcome, I’m glad you all could make it. Make yourselves comfortable.” Alice motioned to the chairs left at the table as they all Shiro thanked her for her invitation and led the group to sit. Chlotz stood at Alice side as she sat, acting like a true attendant and even dressed up nicer than normal. 

Alice talked for a bit on political standpoints, trading deals, routes of delivery and companionships with other lands and planets. Lance was trying not to fall asleep, Pidge was interested when she brought up the newest technologies and Hunk was getting into the herbs around the room he could use in spices or foods. Keith, Shiro, Coran and Allura however, all listened diligently. 

“Now, with all the standard information and discussion out of the way. I have an very important announcement. It will be quite a drastic change I’m afraid, and it may seem sudden to those unfamiliar with my background or way of living.” She looked over her shoulder to Chlotz who looked back to her. She then nodded to him as she stood up and addressed everyone. 

“Tomorrow, I shall be holding a coronation ceremony and relinquish my place as the Princess of Arcadia, before leaving the planet.”


	9. Chapter 9

The room was silent for a moment before it erupted into a chorus of a mixture of surprised noises and shouts. 

“Your highness with all due respect, don’t you believe that this decision is a bit sudden?!” An older looking man with scale like texture scrawled on his face and nearly white eyes stood abruptly from the table as he brought the attention of Alice. 

“I understand that it is short notice, but something has happened and I must take immediate action if I wish to keep this planet and all of my people safe.” She addressed the man as a younger woman, looking around Alice’s age, if not a bit older spoke next, calmly from her seat as she looked around. 

“How will it proceed? You do not have any family to speak of lady, nor do you have connections with anyone else worthy enough to succeed you.” Alice shook her head. 

“Worry not about that. I’ve already decided on my successor and they had fully complied to the situation. I have explained what the current situation myself is, and they will accept the position.” The older man spoke back again, waving his arms about as he shouted, or rather raised his voice again, still standing from his seat. 

“Oh, and I suppose you’ll allow us to meet this individual. It’s only fair that if you proceed without support from us, it will cause turbulence between us.” The crimson haired woman narrowed her eyes at the man. 

“As of right this moment, I am still the ruling princess of this home, so I expect you to still treat me as such and not address me like some prepubescent child who is just learning what a Daftouris is.” Alice then looked over her shoulder at Chlotz. He nodded as he only stepped closer to her as she moved from her seat and stood next to him. “This is man who will step up and take over what I will leave on this planet.” 

“I am Chlotz Hivar. I’ve been beside Princess Alicia’s side ever since she arrived on this planet and have studied the same material as her. When we first met, she told me she had this feeling, and she asked that if something should happen to her one day, I will be the one to keep her home alive. I’ve been preparing for this day, and even if it is sooner than many of us suspected, I am ready to help Arcadia grow and thrive.” 

Silence overflowed in the room as the man who had a loud to shout about was silent. His brow twitched at Chlotz as the woman calmly closed her eyes. The woman just sighed slight as she spoke, breaking the ever flowing silence. 

“This man seems capable enough.” 

“Madam!” The older man tried to interrupt her. 

“If this is the person our leader decided to put behind her, then I have no reason to doubt her judgement.” She stood as she walked over to Chlotz, offering her hand to him. He reached out and met her as she looked at him. “I’m looking forward to seeing what our future leader holds. If you need anything, the Uthuerous people will be behind you.” Chlotz smiled as she soon went to Alice, standing in front of her. 

“Princess, although I have no idea on why you decided to leave us so soon, I do hope your future will be good to you and I pray for your safety.” Alice smiled to her. 

“Thank you very much Madam. I hope you will do good to my little portege while I’m gone.” The woman was the first to leave and soon one by one, the others who had remained silent soon started to leave as well, soon the man who had made his thoughts the clearest, expressed his trust in her judgement and hopes she will not disappoint. 

Soon the room was nearly empty and as Alice was speaking to Chlotz, she turned to the voltron crew who was still in with her and were approaching her as she spoke. She motioned for Chlotz to give her a moment as he nodded and left to give them her privacy. 

“Alice? You’re resigning?” Alice looked to Allura as she looked at her in shock. Alice nodded. 

“I am. Something has happened and now, I’m afraid someone will find me here and I can’t endanger my people. I’m going to tell you something fairly confidential, which is reason why I asked Chlotz to leave. If people should ever come to this planet and ask questions about me, he’ll be bound by truth, so this way he, and my people, will still be safe.” Alice leaned against the table as Keith stepped forward, a bit confused, just as the others were and even a bit skeptical. 

“What exactly is so important you had to hide it from Chlotz, or even of us? What is going on? Who are you Alice?” Shiro stepped forward, placing a hand on the younger boy’s shoulder, calming him down as his voice steadily began to rise. 

“Keith, calm down. I’m sure Alice has her reasons.” Alice scoffed. 

“Ever the peacemaker, huh Shiro?” She shook her head as she then looked at the team again. “As you’re all probably aware of by now, I’m not originally from this planet, and I’ve been here not long, but long enough to give all these people a stable life, and with what I”m leaving behind with me, they can afford to live peacefully for years to come. So, I’m going to ask you, Princess Allura of Altea, a favor.” 

Allura stepped forward to her, straightened her back. Her paladins and remained Altean comrade behind her, supporting her always, even if they did come to disagreements. She almost smiled towards their bond of friendship and camaraderie, it was so strong it was almost tangible to Alice’s eyes. 

“I’d like to ask permission if you’d take me to a different planet, far from Arcadia and leave me there to make a new life for myself.” Allura wasn’t too shocked at her request. Allura could tell, she could see that there was something behind the golden eyes of Alice and the pain she hid, along with the secrets. 

“The paladins of voltron would be more than happy to have to along, Coran and I included. However, why not start that new life with us and fight back. We’re going to stop the Galra, and make a universe that is peaceful once again. It’d be an honor to have your help Alice.” Alice averted her gaze, her secrets scanning in her eyes like a story that was too blurry to read. 

“I…” Her voice drowned out before Lance stepped up, moving to the front of the group and addressing his crew. 

“Look guys, I’m sure it must be hard for Alice right now. We can’t push anything on her. We should just give her some time.” Lance remembered how he felt when he first started his life as a paladin of the strong weapon in the universe. It was exhilarating, but after a while, he began to miss home, his family, his planet. He knew what it was like to just suddenly do a 180 on your life, and he wanted to give anyone who is thinking of changing as much time as possible, as well a pal to rely on no matter what course they choose.

“Yeah, I think Lance has a point.” Hunk backed up his friend. 

“Yes. Thank you, Hunk.” Lance then turned to Alice. “We’ll give you a lift, no problem, but don’t rush to think things over. Take your time. We’ll support your decision.” Alice looked at Lance. So far, she’d only be acquainted with the goofball, flirtatious side of Lance, and she was a bit flabbergasted at his more mature side. She smiled to him, smirking as she crossed her arms. 

“Are you sure you’re the same flirt I’ve been talking too for the past couple days?” Lance plasted his signature smirk on his face, placing his hands on his hips and leaned closer to her slightly. 

“Oh honey, you haven’t seen all of me yet.” Alice slapped her hand over ehr mouth to keep her from laughing as the group behind Lance all groaned at him. Lance’s eyes widened a bit before he pouted and looked behind him. “What?!” Shiro then took Lance’s shoulder. 

“I think that’s enough. You have a point.” Shiro looked at Alice before he looked away and to his friends. “Okay, I say we go and call it a day early. Big day tomorrow.” He put his hands on his hips as Allura smiled at him. 

“Shiro’s right. We should go and prepare for departure, as well as the coronation.” Coran then piped up, stroking his ginger mustache. 

“I’ll prepare a special paladin dinner for you all. Sure to lift your spirits and give you energy!” Pidge jumped on the back of Coran, making him stumbled as she called out to Hunk and Lance. 

“I’ll hold him back! You two go and start something we can eat that doesn’t look like the stomach guts of a virus!” Coran waddled around as Hunk saluted PIdge and Lance just laughed and soon the duo ran out. Pidge then detached herself from Coran, running after the two, Coran also on her tail. 

Allura laughed as Shiro chuckled and Keith just shook his head, hiding his smirk behind his mullet as he turned his head. 

“We’d better follow them. I’m sure if someone doesn’t mediate, they’ll end up having another food-goo fight.” Keith spoke as Allura nodded to him. 

“Keith’s right. We should return.” Alice nodded to them. She had some things to do in her room before tomorrow, so she’d be busy for the remainder of the night. Soon, the group was leaving the room when Shiro stopped to speak with Alice a bit more. 

“Shiro, come on.” Keith watched as Shiro lagged. 

“Uh, you go on ahead. I’ll be there in a bit.” Keith only nodded as he left with Allura. Shiro walked towards Alice as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, are you sure you’re okay with doing this?” Alice huffed as she turned to him. 

“Yeah. I made up my mind, I have to.” Alice seemed to remember something as she then changed her tone and looked to Shiro, a smile on her face. “Oh, I forgot, I’ve got something for you and the rest of the paladins. It’ll help for tomorrow. Come with me so I can give them to you, since I won’t see you tomorrow until after I’ve crowned Chlotz.” Shiro blinked, but shrugged. Why not. 

Soon, Alice was leading him out of the greenhouse like area and leading him to someplace. However, unlike before when she would escort him somewhere, she wasn’t speaking or holding a typical conversation with him. She was silent, and as Shiro walked behind her, he could almost see a tension in her back. 

Soon, after walking up stairs and down halls, Shiro found himself standing before a pair of doors near the roof of the castle. A panel opened to reveal a switch that opened the large doors, as Alice entered, Shiro tailing as usual. 

“Just wait around here, I’ll go grab them.” Alice was walking around the room as Shiro move his eyes and walked a bit to examine the room. It was fairly large and with the bed perched by the large window peering over the sky, it was fairly obvious this was more than likely her bedroom. Shiro watched as she disappeared beyond a doorway adjacent to her room. He kept looking as he noticed the random children drawings posted on her walls and her desk that had books above it on a shelf and documents on top of it with her writing material and memos. The room was nice, but it almost felt like it was missing something. Like something was in it, but it wasn’t occupied, like it was vacant and barren. It almost felt lonely. 

“Shiro.” He turned to see Alice come back to him with a hand full of ear piece looking things. “Here. Tomorrow’s coronation will be spoken in a different language, so I had these prepared just in case some of you wanted to actually understand. It’s like how the words in books were translated, only these listen to the spoken language and instantly translate them.” 

They were small and wrapped around one’s ear with adjustable features for all kinds of species he imagined. He smiled as he accepted them. 

“Thank you. I’m sure the others will appreciate it.” Alice smiled at him and nodded. Shiro wanted to talk to her about her traveling with them. He knew that she shouldn’t be pressured into staying, but that familiar sense he gets from her so often, made it so that Shiro didn’t want to think about leaving her for herself on a random planet. 

“Alice, about you leaving Arcadia. I think that-” 

“I’ll think about it.” Alice interrupted him. 

“What?”

“I’ll think about staying with you guys. I wouldn’t mind at all, but it’s a hard decision for me. I can’t explain right now, but you guys are running head to head with the Galra. Taking that into consideration, I need some time to think over all my options.” Shiro’s ears almost felt like they were ringing. The dimly lit room, the sign of the sun lowering, the silence, the almost desperate fear shining in Alice’s eyes, and him, feeling helpless towards her, it all felt like he’d felt all of this before. 

Shiro couldn’t process much as he stepped forward and gentle moved to hold the woman against his chest. He placed his prosthetic on the back of her head, pressing it to his shoulder and his other arm wrapped under her arm and rested on the small of her back. It wasn’t a sudden movement, in fact he moved slowly as if asking silently if it was okay for him to do this, but Alice never moved from him, so he just held her for a moment. 

“I understand. Take your time and think everything over. I just…” He stopped himself. If he kept talking about how he felt, and how she was so familiar, something in her might find it off putting, and considering his year with the Galra, he wasn’t so sure he was ready to remember everything yet. 

Alice pushed her forehead against his shoulder before she placed her hands on his chest and pushed him slightly. 

“I know. I will. You should get back to the castle. I’m sure everyone’s waiting. Not to mention, can’t miss that special dinner waiting for you.” She smirked slightly as Shiro rolled his eyes and dropped his arms from her form and stepped away. 

“I’m just hoping Hunk got there before Coran could even step in the kitchen.” Alice chuckled as she walked towards her door, leading Shiro away. Her door opened and Shiro stepped into the halls. “Can you find your way back?” He nodded. 

“I’m sure I can. I’m not shy, if I get lost, I’ll just ask.” He shrugged at his own reply and Alice shook her head smiling. 

“Alright. G’night Shiro.” Shiro turned and waved her off. Soon, he was walking down the hall and looking at his arm that the Galra hadn’t touched. He wondered why he decided to do what he did. He wasn’t one for physical contact, especially with women, but for some reason, when he held her, he didn’t feel the need to let her got, or even felt embarrassed. Now, he felt a tad warm in his cheeks as he acted so impulsively for his standards, but he didn’t regret it. 

She was so warm. 

Meanwhile, Alice moved to stand in the middle of her room before she moved to stand at her window. She watched as her window loomed over where the entrance of the castleship of Altean was visible. She saw the group of Allura and Keith, both waiting for Shiro. He watched as Keith started to shout and Shiro ran to join them and soon be lifted into the castle. Alice sighed as she smiled. 

“It’s been so long since I’ve felt his warmth. It was so nostalgic. Shiro, soon maybe I’ll be able to tell you. That is, exactly why you keep feeling so much confusion towards me. Someday soon.” With that, Alice started preparing a bag of books, clothes, weapons and informational memos and files that she may need for her departure tomorrow. 

Come tomorrow at dusk, she would no longer be the princess of Arcadia, and she would soon be leaving her once proclaimed home. She wouldn’t let them take away her happiness. Not ever again.


	10. Chapter 10

Shiro got out of his bed much earlier than the others the next morning. Allura had told them all to dress in their paladin uniforms, as that's the most appropriate for a ceremony of this stature. As he looked around his dimly lit room, he could tell it was still very early. He couldn't sleep. He sat on the edge of his bed as he rested his arms on his knees, leaning forward and flipping something around through his fingers.

He was flipping and fiddling with the earpiece Alice had given to him. He already gave the rest of them their own, and so now all he had was his. He had so many questions in his head, being the worry wart leader he was. And of course, he always was wondering what happened in his memory gap from when he was with the Galra.

There were so many things. So many questions he wanted to ask. So many answers he wanted to know. So many things he wanted, he wished, he desperately yearns to remember about who he was, how he was doing, and what he did. His eyes would scan to his arm of robotic and mechanically tendicines. He had long forgotten what it was like, having two, true flesh arm on both sides of his torso.

He sighed as he stood up, stretching his arms across his body, pulling and stretching his muscles. He couldn't sleep, so the only thing he could think to do was to do a little exercise. Nothing beats a workout with complete silence on an alien castleship that's landed on a chameleon planet where he keeps having deja vu about the princess with fire red hair... nope, nothing beats that.

Shiro placed the ear piece beside his pillow as he stripped off his shirt and rotated his torso on his hips, swiveling from right to left, his abs abundantly clear to anyone if they saw him. He moved himself to the center of his floor before he lowered himself to sit with his legs cross. He took a few deep breaths to relax his muscles as he extended his right leg as far to his side as he could, tucking his other leg so his left heel rested on his right thigh before he reached his arm to his toes.

He switched legs and did the same stretch as he held his breath, inhaled, exhaled and counted. He felt how his muscles pulled and would burn if he stretched too far. He then brought his feet together, pushing the bottoms of them to each other and pulling his heels to his center and folding forward. For someone who was as big and bulky as Shiro, one wouldn't expect him to be as flexible as he was. He was completely folded forward, the tresses of his white hair brushing against his floor.

Lifting himself back to sit comfortably, he moved to flip himself on his chest, laying on the ground first and then lifting himself on his palms, straight up. His arms extending on either side of him and his legs and feet straight as his body was straight and he began to do reps of push ups. He'd let his ragged breath flow from his lips as he got closer to the floor and took in more air as he pushed himself back up.

After a few reps, he began to feel the same burn in his arms as he strained them and moved his body lower to rest on his forearms. His body still straight and off the ground, he clasped his fingers together as he pointed his head to and fro, trying to concentrate as he held himself up in a plank.

He continued to switch from push up reps to planking before he flipped onto his back. He rested a moment, his eyes on the ceiling before he interlaced his finger behind his head and places his knees in front of him as he began to pull his body upwards. Sit-ups were always harder when there was no weight on your feet, but they worked the abs more than if you used your leg strength. To make things a bit more rewarding, with each rep of him pulling himself up, he'd touch the tip of his elbow to the opposite knee, giving the good ole abdominal region even more work. Right elbow to left knee, left elbow to right knee, down, back up, elbow to knee, rinse and repeat.

By now, he felt that burn in his arms and his torso as his breath was heavy. He decided to call it a night so he tosses his shirt back on and left his room. It'd be bad if he decided to rest without hydration, doing it in the past had always made him sick and he honestly could not afford to get sick.

He grabbed a towel and slung it around his neck as it soaked up the sweat on his skin before he left his room. A short trip to the kitchen for one of those strange vitamin drinks Coran brought them once, and then he'd try his hand at least a bit of rest before morning. His adventures through the halls of the ship was so silent, anyone from Earth would probably find it eerie, or even experiment with the echoing like Lance had one night, waking everyone up I might add.

Shiro chuckled at the memory. Lance, standing in the middle of the halls, screaming random phrases to see how they echoed and the soon his screams echoed as well as the sound of rapid stomping as he proceeded to be chased around by his fellow paladins. Pidge was hot on his heels as she tackled the boy, Hunk catching up and holding him down as Keith glared down at him and pointed his finger, asking in an annoyed voice cloaked in slumber, what the hell he was doing.

Shiro remembered rounding the corner, bedhead and yawning as he saw the scene. Pidge sitting on Lance, Hunk holding his arms down and Keith preaching about how late it was so passionately, it'd put a 30 year experienced Catholic priest who talked about God, to shame. All he did then, was turn around before he was noticed and headed back to his room, not willing to deal with it. They'd handle it somehow, he'd be ready for the story the next more at breakfast anyways.

Back to the present moment, he made it and was leaning against the wall as he sipped from the straw of the strange packet of liquid. It really had no taste, but apparently it was super healthy, so he didn't really mind it. As he sipped on it, the only light in the room was the small light from the top of the food-goo station that remained on indefinitely to his knowledge.

He nearly choked on his drink as the lights suddenly flicked on and someone stepped inside. He was so focused on his thoughts and trying to calm himself down enough to sleep, he failed to noticed the footsteps in the fall and the sudden presence.

"Shiro, what in the world are you doing up so late?" Shiro glanced over to the feminine voice that startled him and let out a breath.

"Princess, you startled me." Allura stepped into the room towards Shiro, leaning against the compartment in the room that held all the tableware from plates to sliver. She pushed a small smile on her face.

"I see. That was not my intention, but you still haven't answered my question." Shiro shrugged.

"I couldn't get to sleep. I'm a bit restless." Allura nodded.

"I understand the feeling. It's hard to believe so much has happened in just a few days, but what surprises me more is that we're comprehending it and it hardly has anything to do with us." Shiro agreed. Although he should be use to the quick pace of things in this lifestyle, sometimes things still catch him, and the rest of his friends, off guard. With little time to think on things and process the best of decision making, it's strange when you have a chance to settle and think about everything. It's also the best times to reflect and either kick your own ass on what you should have done, how you did something, or what you didn't do.

"You're worrying about Alice's request aren't you?" Shiro looked up to the Altean princess and rolled his eyes as he ran one of his hands through his white and black hair, intertwining some of the different colored strands.

"It's not the request she made that makes me anxious." Allura moved her head slightly, tilting it and moving her eyes and brows enough to ask him to continue. "Its.. ever since we met her, I've been having these feelings that I've met her before." Allura shook her head.

"But, that'd be impossible, Shiro. You were on Earth until not too long ago, you've never... you're species never made it past your own solar system of planets." Shiro leaned his head back against the wall as he slightly gripped the packet of liquid in his hand.

"I know, that's why I'm worried." The man closed his eyes as he was trying to think. "The only time I ever left anything of Earth behind was when I was captured by the Galra." Allura seemed to remember that Alice did seem to have some foreign type of control system implanted into her arm.

"It is possible she did in fact meet you while you were imprisoned. She has the same kind of energy in her arm that would power a strong machine. Strong enough for the Galra to be interested in." Shiro had thought of that before, but then that thought brought up more and more questions. He reopened his eyes as he pictured what Alice would be doing on a Galra ship.

"Yes, but I don't remember anything from my time with the Galra. I don't even remember how I escaped." He thought about it, and what would happen if Alice was there. He couldn't even imagine her going and fighting in Gladiator matches like he did, I mean sure she was strong, but... what if she learned to fight like that _by participating in the ring?_ Or, what if she was someone he briefly scanned over before he lost his memory? What if she turned out to be someone else, _something_ else?

What if Alice turned out to be a threat?

He shook his head. Alice wasn't a threat. She couldn't be. She took care of this planet. She helped it grow, she nurtured it and her feelings and presence to her people is so warm. She is, in no way, a threat to anyone.

"We could stand here all night and play a game of guesses about her, but it won't get us anywhere because the fact of the matter is, we know nothing about her." Shiro's eyes widened slightly as he huffed. That's right. He doesn't know a thing about Alice and who she is.

"You're right." She lowered his head and finished off his pouch before tossing it. Allura and him spoke a bit further before he dismissed himself. He went back to his room before he removed the towel from his neck and and tosses it somewhere, not worrying about tidiness at the moment.

He turned off his lights of his room as he lay in his bed, the blankets covering to the midpoint on his chest and soon he did fall asleep. He, unfortunately, dreamt that night.

_There was so much movement. His head was fuzzy and there was a ringing in his ears. His vision was blurry and tinted pink, almost as if he had red food coloring dripping into his eyes like eye drops. The bridge of his nose ached and his arm felt like it was on fire._

_"The druids had prepared the prosthetic for the human." A voice. It was pitched and so neutral. It held no fluctuation of emotion anywhere, and it seemed so cold._

_"What are you planning to do with me?!" He was speaking before he knew it and he had the chance to stop himself. He seethed through his teeth, through his pain and hissed as he realized he was restricted. His body tied down somehow._

_Pain. So much pain. Then darkness. The dull space with the absence of all light. His head feeling like an anchor of a ship and his body aching and hot with the burning and strain of matches. Then he felt a single drop of something soothing on his head._

_A warm touch, placing on his forehead as it worked around his head. Then on the bridge of his nose where the warmth became heavy and never left. Then to his arm that was dull and aching, the warmth replaced it. The warmth covered his body and he almost felt safe, but then he was plunged into a sea of ice._

_It felt like his body was frozen. The warmth vanished instantly and completely and he was short on breath. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't think, and he couldn't move. He felt like he was going to vomit, his hands opened and closed as he heaved. It hurt. Then all he heard was a scream._

"AARGH!" Shiro shot awake as he flew up into a sitting position on his bed. He leaned forward and placed a hand on his head. His eyes were wide and his breath was heavy like he just lifted a 140 lbs bang of sand. Sweat fell from his forehead and slid down his neck, back and chest. His arm twitched as he re-imagined the pain it felt and quickly grabbed onto it.

He didn't know how long he had been asleep, but he heard echoing of voices from around the halls, so he assumed it was a good enough time to get up. Sleeping at this point was out of the question anymore. He slung his legs over his bed and tossed his blanket side, pulling his sweaty shirt off his body and cradled his forehead again.

"What _was_ that?"


	11. Chapter 11

“H-hey! Knock it off! Lance-!” Shiro stood in front of his door, still in his room. He heard the shouts and shuffling outside and was tempted to just wait it out. After a moment, the leader in him decided he should step it. So, he opened his door, stepped out and sighed at the sight of a pile of people at his door frame. There was silence. 4 pairs of eyes looked up at Shiro, as his pair looked down at his team. He sighed but once.

“Why?” 

The order of the pile is what you might expect. Lance was on the flatass bottom, chest pressed on the ground. Keith’s back was on top of the Cuban’s as number 2 from the ground. Hunk was stomach to stomach with Keith and Pidge just gracefully sat cross legged on the back of Hunk. The girl genius raised one hand as she pushed up her glasses. 

“Good morning Shiro.” Shiro saw the mouth of the team start to open as he raised his hands. 

“Ah, nope. No words.” The mouths then closed as he turned his boy and took a breath. “I don’t want to know. Just untangle yourselves, go eat then get ready for the coronation.” He heard the grunts and sweet sound of gasps as his team untangled themselves and picked their bodies off the ground. Shiro headed off first, following in place Pidge, Keith grumbling as he walked, Lance mocking Keith’s grumbles and Hunk, rubbing his stomach of hunger. 

This is it. The everyday life of the paladins. The same paladin’s Alice will be a part of starting this afternoon. These clumsy fools are going to save the universe with the surviving members of a race and a former princess. All they need now is a farm to make Kaltenecker more comfortable with her surroundings. 

They all proceeded to the dining hall and sat down as Allura entered the room, Coran behind her with their standard plates of food-goo. They all sat in silence for a bit, just focused on eating when Pidge piped up. 

“So, I know how coronations and all that work on Earth, they have documentaries on England’s queens that I’ve watched, but exactly how does alien coronations work?” Lance snickered at her mention of watching documentaries on England and in turn, she threw her fork at his head, but turned back to Allura as she began to speak. 

“I’m not sure. I wasn’t born yet when my father became king of Altean. Ceremonies of this caliber are usually very different. It ranges from species, to culture and even race.”

“But, her planet is primarily made up hybrids.” Keith piped in with the information of not having a single steady race on the planet. 

“I know.” Allura set her silverware on her empty plate. “However, I suppose we’ll find out soon enough. Paladins, hurry up and go change into uniform. We’ve no time to waste.” They all nodded to her as they soon finished one by one and left to their respectful places to suit up. They all gathered at the xit point of the castle in a group. 

“Everyone have their ear pieces.” Shiro addressed his group as they all respectfully showed him or touched their ear, sporting their alien translating equipment. “Alright. Alice said that it wouldn’t be too difficult to find the location of the ceremony, so I guess we’ll just have to make do.” 

“I’m sure the castle will be busy. If we just follow the crowd, I’m willing to bet we’ll find the place.” Pidge wasn’t too worried about it, none of them were honestly. 

“Isn’t, like the entire town coming to it? Are they all going to watch it? Will they fit in the castle?” Hunk was more concerned about the space, or the possible lack thereof. Lance placed a hand on his hip as he raised his other. 

“I bet that they have some sort of broadcast for the people in town. The castle is big, but not that big Hunk.” 

“Alright, I think that’s enough chatter. We should be off.” Allura rounded the group and soon they were all silent and leaving, wondering around the halls to find the place of coronation. 

It was no surprise that the group never once ran into, or caught sight of either Chlotz or Alice throughout their wondering. Eventually, they found a group of well dressed, soldier like guards standing at the doors of a large room. Among the guards, Keith had pointed out a familiar face. It was the woman from the meeting Alice held yesterday, the same woman who seemed to trust Alice’s decision to resign. 

The woman had caught a glimpse of them and called them over by lifting her hand and motioning to herself. She still had an elegant air to her, and she was still dressed in an eloquent way only with a cloth veil draped around her face, covering her nose and mouth to add to her outfit. 

“I apologize for my sudden call to you all.” She apologized as she made them come to her, rather than she coming to them. “I wasn’t keen on moving from my place. In not too much time, this corridor will be swamped with citizens and allies, so I’d rather not move.” 

“It’s no problem. Seeing a familiar face was somewhat comforting to begin with.” Shiro understood the wanting to not move and lose a possible comfortable place to wait, at least until the doors open. 

“I was asked by the princess, that if I did come across you, I’d help you into the coronation hall and have you seating properly and comfortably. I hope you do not mind if I am your companion in which you sit shoulders with.” 

“No, no. It’ll be fine, a bit of a relief honestly. We were a bit worried about getting here and getting in, so you just solved all of our problems.” 

“Well then, I am glad.” It wasn’t too much longer before the group was standing in an awkward silence, thankfully that silence didn’t last long as soon the doors behind them were beginning to swing open. The woman motioned for the group of paladins and Alteans to follow after her as she entered the room. She entered in a casual manner, however the others were more in awe. 

Once beyond the door, it was like they stepped into another building entirely. It was like a giant cathedral. The ceiling was several stories high at least to earth standards and ti was wide and open. The front of the room held a giant stage like area lifted off the ground with two chairs on either side of it. The chairs were clearly for the current ruler and the soon-to-be. 

In the front of the stage, lying delicately on the ground with a velvet pillow beneath it was a choice of small vials. They ranged in color from cyan to noir. There was no way to understand or see what was truly in the vials, but they’d figure they’d find out later on. 

The seating was arranged in horizontal ways, angled to be at a diagonal towards the center of the room for the aisle running down the place. The walls held flags of some of the races they knew of and allied with, including the Altean crest that sent a wave of nostalgia through Coran and Allura. 

Finally, resting on the ceiling was a stained glass skylight with colors that mirrored the ones of the vials below. Placed around in a mosaic style, the colors created a broken picture of an open hand, the palm to the sky. 

The group sat a few rows from the stage, not front, but not far as the woman leading them had a seat. She placed her hands in her lap as she focused on the front, even though nothing was happening. The murmurs of other entering behind them echoed off the walls of the slowly filling room. 

“The ceremony will begin shortly, it’s best to sit and wait until then. Other will try to speak with you, you may respond as you want, but I’d advise not to leave your seat. If you do, it’s possible it won’t be yours for much longer.” The group nodded and heeded her advice as they greeted others around them and, of course, Lance shot every pretty lady that looked at him a snazzy finger gun with a cheeky tongue click or wink. That effectively made someone elbow him, the main culprit being Keith while most just groaned at him. 

The hall that was filled with the combobulated sounds of chatter, noises, other languages and even clicks of some sort of silent communication was almost completely silence by three simple thuds from the front of the room. 

The first was hard to get attention, the second was others alerting more about the sound, and the third was all the eyes were up front and the noise was no more. It was almost paranormal how well it worked. 

A male individual came up and began to announce the occasion, the renouncing of a ruler and the birth of a new as they soon entered the room. Chlotz stood beside Alice at the doors in the back and soon split to walk into the room on opposite sides of the large room only to climb up the steps to the stage and meet back again in the center of it. 

“Look at Alice, she actually looks like a princess.” PIdge whispered to Lance. 

“Princess? She’s always looked like that, she’s a freaking queen now.” Lance replied.

“I think she looks the same as yesterday.” Keith decided to let his monotone whisper add to their conversation. 

“You blind Keith?! She’s obviously better looking than yesterday!” Lance’s heated whisper came back as Hunk leaned over to Keith. 

“She does look better.” Keith pouted as he glanced up at the dark-skinned team mate. “I’m just saying.” Hunk slightly raised his hands from his lap to emphasis his point as Keith rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, huffing as he watched the ceremony. 

“She is beautiful.” Allura admired the female as Coran was stroking his ‘stache as he was interested on how things would go down. 

“Yes, thank you Allura. See, she’s a princess. She get’s it.” Lance huffed as Allura seemed to agree. As the group shared small chit chat about the place, Shiro sat in silence, watching the ceremony and trying to hide the fact he was admiring Alice’s figure a bit too closely. 

Her hair was down and full of curls as only part of it was pinned back. It fell over her shoulders to rest on her back and chest. Her dress she wore had lace running around her left bicep, to rest on her chest, and her right bicep, no cloth resting on her shoulders. She wore a piece of pale cloth around her neck with rose gold chains dangling from it. Her dress was a soft creme color as the corset was latched on her chest and at her hips, the skirt that brushed around her ankles to the ground grew darker on the way down to a almond. 

The colors of the almond and creme complemented her fair, pale skin and her bright hair contrasted to it. She wore open finger gloves that looped around the base of her middle finger and ran up her arm to her elbow. Her shoes that peeked from her dress bottom wrapped around her feet and lifted her heels from the ground. 

Finally the piece she held atop her head was the most important part of the ceremony. On top of her head she held a large, open crown. It wasn’t the standard tiara or queen crown one would see on Earth, it was different naturally. It was an open head piece, wrapping around the crown of the head and holding the decor on the front. 

The front of the crown had crimson like structures rising up and out, almost like a pair of flaming wings ready to take off. The center of the piece, the point where the ‘wings’ met, held a bright blue gem. All while the rim of the piece was outlined in rose gold. 

Alice, on her final day as the princess, the ruler of Arcadia, looked like the physical definition of excellence. It was only her smile that made the look seem almost too bright to look at. 

Soon, Alice was seated in on the chairs along with Chlotz in his beside her. He escorted her to sit as he turned and sat and the main priest like man began. He explained the history and beginning of Arcadia. The success that was brought to them, the peace, the happiness and family and friendship and all praised the kingdom as a strong hold thanks to Alice. 

“Your highness.” the priest turned and offered a hand to Alice. She took a breath and rose from her chair as she strode forward, lightly taking the hand offered to her. She was brought to the small pillow of colorful vials. Slowly and delicately, she kneels to gaze at them and smiled as she picked on from it’s place and cradled it in her palm, closing her hand around it and holding it to her chest. 

She had chosen the the white vial. She had shown the priest as he began to speak as Alice stood and motioned for Chlotz to come to her. 

“The vials that our princess has chose is the liquified state of the next gem that that will placed in the center of the Crimson Wings of her crown. The red wings show the power and love that lead our way to this point, as well as a reminder of our original ruler and her beautiful. The gem in her crown was a shade of blue. She was like the sea and sky, showing her wisdom and loyalty to lead up here. Today, that gem will be removed for the gem for our new prince.” 

Chlotz moved to stand in front of Alice. He smiled to her as he cupped her closed hands in his. He didn’t know the color of the gem, but he didn’t doubt what she chose would be the right color for him. He only nodded as she closed her eyes and he dropped her hands that stayed at her chest. 

“Now, our coming prince shall remove her gem.” Just like that, Chlotz reached to the crown and pulled the blue gem from the crown, feeling it tumble into his palm he lowered his hand to Alice’s vision as she reopened her eyes, knowing the action was finished. 

“Now, the changing of our possessions.” Chlotz then, closing his hand gently over the stone, kneeled to the ground in front of Alice. His arm over his leg that held the gem, and his other behind his back. Alice stood tall as the priest reached up and slowly lifted the crown from her head. 

Alice felt strands of her crimson hair latched on and slowly fall from the metallic headpiece, almost as if it didn’t want to let it go. Soon, she was watching as the priest placed it Chlotz head as he looked up to Alice, not yet standing. She smiled down to him as she opened her hands, revealing the color she chose to place into the crown. 

“The color I’ve chosen… is white.” The vial was opened and she soon began to pour it into her palm. As soon as the liquid hit the solid warmth of her hand, it turned solid, finally taking its form as a gem. Before she placed the gem into the piece, she spoke her words first. 

“White is the sign of a successful beginning. The color is not stained and is pure, filled with innocence and safety. This is what I know you can bring this planet and will always remain bright. Only those you allow are the ones who can change and alter the color of your bright pure white.” 

She then placed the gem between the wings and motioned for Chlotz to stand. He stood tall above her as he slightly fixed the strands of hair that were misplaced. 

“I never got to thank you for everything you did for us, for me princess. I don’t nearly have the time anymore, and I regret never doing it before, but you were like an elder sister to me and will always be in my heart, Princess Alicia.” She wanted to roll her eyes at his cliche nature. 

“I’m no longer princess Chlotz. Maybe I should address you as ‘prince’ now?” He scoffed as he looked elsewhere for a moment then back to her. 

“Don’t you dare. However,” he reached for her hands and opened them, placing her crown gem in her hand, “you will always be our princess, and my unbiological sister. You will always be out family.” Chlotz folded her hands over her gem, telling her to keep it with her as he motioned to the people who were not under our rule. 

Suddenly then all started cheering for her. The hall echoed with cheers, whistles, clicks, stomps, shouts and smiles. Alice laughed as Chlotz slung his arm over his shoulder, the two now facing the people. He then looked at the priest and nodded. Chlotz offered his hand and led Alice to the chair in which he had sat in before before Chlotz went and sat in her previous one. 

The priest spoke once agian. 

“The crowning of a new ruler, the birth of a new prince, and the end of a time with a princess. We shall not forget our teaching and will treasure our memories until the end of history. Let us offer our best to Alice and new Prince Chlotz.” The room got loud once more as Chlotz hid his face and cringed at the new title of his and Alice only laughed at him for it. 

Time passed, and the ceremony ended. Alice was spoken to, hugged, visited and even teased as she walked about, even meeting some of the townsfolk before running into the paladins who had long left their chaperone madam. 

“That was a wonderful ceremony Alice.” Allura approached her first. 

“Thanks. Glad to see you guys. It’s a bit of a relief since all my professional duties still aren’t done until I finish speaking with the guests. Then, I’ll be a normal individual again.” 

“Yeah, because normal is hitching a ride in a flying castle through space.” Pidge piped up full of sarcasm as Alice chuckled. 

“Yes, well, that’s fairly normal these days.” 

“Don’t forget about all the butt kickin’ we do. Speaking of, you gonna be okay? We tend to get into a lot of trouble.” Alice placed her hand on her hip as she slouched over at Hunk’s comment. 

“You’re talking to the woman who nearly took out your glorious leader the first day you landed here. You will wanna talk like I can’t fight?” She smirked as Shiro looked at her. 

“You didn’t almost take me out. I was holding back.” She moved to Shiro. 

“Oh, were you know?” 

“Of course. I could tell you were a woman, and I’d rather not go all out and hurt a female.” He smirked to her. 

“Ever the gentleman.” She rolled her eyes as Lance stepped in and waved his fingers about. 

“All right Mr. and Mrs., we get it. You fight,” he motioned to Alice, “and you lead while being nice to girls,” he then motioned to Shiro. “We get it.” 

“Looks like someone’s a bit jealous.” Pidge muttered from under her breath as Lance.

“Shush up tech nerd.” They talked for abit before Alice was ushered away and soon the paladins decided to head back to the castle. They were running last minute prep work to leave. It was a few hours later that Shiro was out, waiting on Alice as he was the one to let her inside when the time came. 

“Shiro.” He looked up as he watched Alice come towards him, a small bag slung over her shoulder and in the same outfit she had the first day they met, her hair still loose from earlier, not in her braid and her weapon on her hip. 

“Hey. You say your goodbyes?” She nodded. 

“Yup. Gave a few tips and tricks to Chlotz, visited the town, thanked the allies and asked for cooperation of the people. I think I’m all good.” Shiro smiled down to her as he changed a bit. 

“You sure you want to do this? You could stay if you really wanted to.” His voice was soft as Alice took a breath and pulled out from under her black undershirt a blue gem on a chain that looped around her neck like a choker. 

“I’m doing this, it’s the best decision I can make for them.” 

“You keep saying that, but I still don’t know what’s going on.” She sighed again and looked at Shiro. 

“I promise, I’ll tell you one day, but not now. It’s not the time.” Shiro nodded at her as she huffed and punched his arm, making him wince. “Now, let’s get going. There’s a universe out there, and I can’t wait to see it.” Shiro smirked to her as he playfully offered her first step inside the lift and before long, they were going up. 

The ascending of the lift mirror her way of going up into the universe and she wouldn’t be stopping her adventure yet. After all, it had only just begun.


	12. LIL BREAK

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'M TAKING A BREAK

Ooookay, I bet lots of y'all saw this coming fucking galaxies away.  

I'll be taking a few weeks off, to help gather my thoughts on this story.  The first, let's call it arc, was of course meeting Alice and her getting off of Arcadia.  Done.  Squared away. Check that off the list. 

Now, I'm at a loss on how I want to proceed with it.  I want to start incorporating parts of the actual series and inserting Alice into the plot like she was in an episode or something, but I need to figure where to start, what season I'll begin, what's happening and how not to betray my own plot and the original.  

I have plans and plot twists written out that I want to do, but I also don't want to rush with this story.  I always have the tendency to rush into relationships, or plots, or climaxes without thinking and building it up and to some it may seem tedious or slow, but that's how it should work, in my opinion. 

I also need to work out a way to make Shiro act.  Obviously this is a Shiro/OC story, so I need to have them interact and show affection, but I can't and DON'T WANT to break Shiro's persona as a leader, father/brother-like figure who tries to think about his team and keep his rational thoughts, all while still having a temper and since of humor.  

Taking that all into account, I'm finding it difficult to write him as a romantic partner without him breaking character.  

It's also harder than one might think coming up with ideas for alien technology, lifeforms, planets, organisms and culture, along with naming them, than one might think.  You'd think you could just throw letters together like a bad game of Scrabble and stick a title on it and bam, aliens, but it's not that easy.  

You can't just spaz out like ALDHWODH is now a plant found in this part of the universe on planet xyz.  Or at least with my poor talent, I can't.  

Not to mention, I won't get into specifics, but life is happening (naturally) and I need to crawl out of my hole that is my sinking life and start getting it together.  I've been nothing but a fucking horrible person with no life since my original career path went fucking no where and my life became stagnant, so I'll be dealing with job searching, getting myself into shape, working with people and getting a routine back so I can live like an almost proper person. 

But worry not, I'll be back and hopefully I can wrap my head around all these trivial things and be back with a busting new chapter throwing us into the space adventure you've all been waiting for.  

I'll now as a good time to thank those who have voted, commented, enjoyed and have been patient so far with this story and myself.  If I have at least some people seemingly enjoying themselves, well then I must be doing something right at the very least. 

Welp, all in all, I'm taking a break for a few weeks to gather information and ideas to thread into the story and I hope you all are patient with me.  In the mean time, if any of you guys out there are K-pop fans, or more specifically of the Monsta X community, I just posted a little introduction of a future Wonho story that will be happening very soon, so check that out!

Also, feel free to browse my stories, cringe, laugh and make fun of them.  If you're having a good time, then so am I.  

Bye guys~! 

**Author's Note:**

> This is a co-edited story, so thank you for my second hand in the story works. You're a lot of help!  
> PS - Inform me of any and all spelling or grammatical errors noticed, thank you!


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